Falling For You
by Inuwolf012
Summary: Summary inside. JimxOC
1. Chapter 1: Unexpected Meetings

Falling For You

**Chapter 1: Unexpected Meetings**

It was a clear night on the Montressor; you could see the Space Port and other towns shimmering with activity all across the planet. On the surface itself, there stood a village on the outskirts of one such town, invisible from space. In this village there stood a single inn. Lights could be seen shining out into the dark night from the inn, and shadows passing the large windows as the people within moved about. Music and laughter emanated from the structure. Up on the roof of the inn, a figure could be seen staring up at the sky.

Jim Hawkins stared up at the sky longingly. Thankfully, the inn wasn't so busy that his mother needed him to bus tables for her, so he was able to get some peace and quiet. Lately, the inn had experienced an increase in customers. Nothing came to Jim's mind as to why this was happening, however tonight's amount had given him the rare chance to get away from the noise of the dining area and get some alone time. He leaned his head a little farther onto the wall of the roof. A smile appeared on his face as he listened to the merry chatter and laughter of his mother and her customers. He was glad that he could do something right for her to make her happy. But he wasn't happy. Ever since he got home, it was back to the usual grind. He made sure to stay out of as much trouble as he could for his mother's sake. It wasn't that hard really. He still went solar surfing but now he was more aware of his surroundings.

Still his adventurous spirit had gone malnourished ever since he returned. He missed the thrill - the excitement - and the adrenaline rush. All of that came back somewhat when Delbert and Amelia's kids were born. Jim was made caretaker of the little darlings, as Delbert fondly called them, which was in itself an adventure all its own. He loved them like they were his own nieces and nephews, but they could be a handful at times. But now his mother could watch them as she went about her business within the inn. By giving them small tasks to do about the place, she could watch them and still do her own things. There was no more need for her to stop what she was doing and take care of them when Delbert and Amelia couldn't do it themselves.

So when the children were older and didn't need as much supervision, there was nothing to feed Jim's appetite for adventure. There were the occasional odd occurrences that happened around the town or inn, but nothing that would result in some new exciting adventure. A sigh escaped from him as he then looked up at the Space Port. He went up to the Port sometimes with Delbert or Amelia to look at the newest ships or to hear the latest news of what was going on with some far off planet. It had occurred to Jim that while he was up there, he could try and find a crew to join to try and at least go somewhere - do _something_. But the thought of leaving his mother after what happened between his father leaving and then the dangers of Treasure Planet didn't go well with him. He could just think of what kind of sorrow would come unto his mother if he told her that he was leaving to go wondering around in space again.

Jim let loose another sigh as he rubbed his forehead. He glanced at the cracked window and stood up. 'Guess all of the customers are gone,' Jim thought before glancing up at the sky. It was then that Jim noticed a ship flying overhead. It wouldn't have been odd, ships flew over the inn because of the town all the time, but this one was flying much lower than normal. He tilted his head as he watched the ship move off towards the Space Port. A number of reasons went through his head as to why the ship was flying lower than normal, but for some reason none really stuck with him. Right as the ship went over the inn, something else caught Jim's eye. Something had fallen off of the ship and was falling fast towards the ground. A closer look at the object made Jim realize something. The thing that was falling was person.

Jim's eyes widened and he quickly jumped off the roof. Running as fast as he could towards the spot where this person would fall, Jim could see that the person was struggling with something. Managing to get under the person, he placed himself in the right position to catch them. The next thing he knew, the wind had been knocked out of him as the person landed right on top of him. A groan ripped itself out of his mouth as another, more feminine, groan replied to his.

Rising up on his elbows, Jim got a better look at the person. It was definitely a girl that fell on him. Besides the sound of her groan, he could feel her breasts against his chest and the shape of body was too sleek and curvy to be male. She had a slim waist that then went into lengthy, yet strong legs. Jim guessed that she was about a head shorter than him. Jim concluded that she was probably around the same age as him. His eyes then focused on the girl's head. She had auburn hair with red highlights. It was cut to fall about half way down neck, but covered her ears easily, and was slightly spiky at the end; giving it a frayed look.

It was then that the girl decided to move. She let loose another groan as she raised her body slightly off of Jim's. A hand with fingerless gloves on was then raised to touch her forehead as Jim heard her mutter, "By Mieshet's light, why _me_?" It was at this point that Jim got a look at her face. She had medium sized almond shaped eyes that were a slightly lighter shade than her hair. Long eyelashes framed and enhanced her eyes. Her white skin was smooth, and it looked as if she never had a blemish at all in her life. Her lips were slim and a light shade of pink that went nicely with her skin. There was a long bang on the right side of her face that went half way into her eye. It was then that Jim noticed her ears. On the upper part of both of her ears were small-hooped silver earrings. But that wasn't the thing that caught his attention. It was their shape. At first glance, they looked normal if a person could see them past her hair. But when her hair moved, a person could easily see that they weren't round- but rather had a definite point to them.

At that moment, her eyes looked up at Jim. Jim swore that he never saw anyone's eyes go as wide or face pale as quickly as her did then. For a moment they just looked at each other till she spoke.

"Uh…oh…," she breathed out "hello..."

"Hi," he said, still slightly winded from the impact.

It was then that she seemed to have realized the position they were in. Jim also took more notice to this as well. The girl was right in between his legs, her chest touching his own, and her face just a few meters away from his. "Oh by Mieshet's, I'm sorry." She then moved off of him and sat next to him, looking over her body for injuries. Jim sat up and took in the rest of her appearance. She was wearing a black tank top that just barely revealed the top of her breasts. The top was also cut short so that her smooth, but decently toned, stomach was shown. Over her shirt, she wore a dark purple, almost black, jacket that went slightly past her shirt. Black cargo pants, which were held up with a black belt, covered her legs. Black combat boots finished off her outfit.

She then leaned in and tilted her head as she stared at Jim. "I didn't hurt you, um…did I?" she asked.

"Oh," Jim said quick as he sat up farther. But this was a mistake on his part. Right as he straightened his back, a pain shot through it and almost caused him to fall back down. Thankfully the girl quickly caught him and helped him sit up.

"Here let me help. Just stay still, and, um, I promise that you'll feel better once I'm done," the girl said as she moved behind him. Jim took notice as she moved his jacket and shirt up his back as she placed her hands on his lower back. But once her hands touched his skin, all the pain vanished. A tingling went up and down his spine for what seemed like a few seconds, but once she removed her hands, it vanished.

"What did you do?" he asked, astonished, as he looked over his shoulder at her.

The girl looked sheepishly at him as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh nothing really- where I come from, most women can do that to take away the pain of injures. I can remove the injury all together, however. You would have developed a bruise on your back and probably experienced pain for awhile if I hadn't done anything."

"You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Oh no, I'm alright. I was just taken by surprise...you know…falling and all. I guess I should expect things like that to happen to me more often than they do." The girl then smiled at him as her hand stopped rubbing her neck.

The girl's eyes then widened again. Frantically, she started unfolding her pockets and looked around her, apparently for something she had lost. It was then that Jim noticed a small jewel lying next to his hand. It was round and probably the size of a small rock. It was medium red color and looked like it was made of glass. The heat that emanated from the stone when he picked it up surprised Jim. It wasn't a burning heat, rather a soothing one.

"Looking for this?" Jim asked holding out his hand. The girl then stopped her search and looked in his hand.

Her smile widened as she saw the jewel in Jim's hand. "Thank you so much." The girl then pushed up the left sleeve of her jacket. On the upper part of her arm was a tattoo band of interwoven swirls. Right in the middle of the interesting pattern seemed to be a gold engraving set on top of the girls flesh. She then put the jewel onto the engraving with a sigh. As she pushed her sleeve back down she murmured, "I have no idea what I would have done if I couldn't find this." She then stood up and helped Jim off the ground. "Really, thank you for catching me and finding my stone. I owe you one."

"No problem," Jim said. Then, Jim realized something. He didn't even know this girls name. "The name's Jim Hawkins, you are?"

He offered his hand, which she shook while saying: "Ashe Aurion." She gave a sheepish grin as her hand went once again behind her neck to rub it. "You, uh, wouldn't happen to know a place I could spend the night, would you? I would love to return to the Space Port but, um, I highly doubt that a ship is running this late at night."

Jim chuckled a little. "Yeah, come with me." The duo then started walking back up to the inn.

"Jim," Jim and Ashe heard as they entered the inn. "Can you come here and help me please?"

"Wait here, I'll be right back," Jim said turning to Ashe before going into the kitchen. He briefly wondered where Delbert, Amelia, Morph, and B.E.N. were. Delbert and Amelia had offered to help out at the inn after hearing how busy it had been lately. After thinking it over, he figured that they were all trying to get the kids into bed since the Doppler's were spending the night.

Upon entering the kitchen, he saw his mother struggling to lift a large crate. Jim quickly took her burden away, which earned him a satisfying sigh from her.

"Thank you," Sarah Hawkins said as she leaned against the counter. She then turned a questionable eye at him as he started to stack the rest of the crates into a corner. "Where have you been?"

'Great,' he thought, 'the one thing I hadn't thought of. Guess it'll have to be the truth. How mad could she get?' He gently took his mother's arm and guided her towards the kitchen door. His mother looked at him curiously as Jim opened the door a smidgeon. She glanced once more at him before peering through the crack.

Ashe was looking at some of the paintings that were scattered around the room, unaware that she was being watched from the kitchen. Occasionally she would glance at the door or out the window before going back to looking at the paintings. Even though he didn't know her for that long, Jim could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable. Of course he didn't blame her. He had taken her here, a place she didn't even know, without telling her anything about himself. He gave her his name, but that didn't mean he had her trust. But that went the same for her, though she just got a feeling that she could trust him. This feeling took him by surprise as well. For a person who he had just met ten minutes ago, she already had a good part of his trust where it took most people weeks of getting to know him to get a tiny bit of it.

His mother then shut the door and turned to Jim. She put her hands on her hips and looked at him accusingly, which normally meant he was in for a scolding. He opened his mouth to defend himself but his mother beat him to it before he could utter a word.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a girlfriend?"

Of all the things he expected his mother to say, that one hadn't even crossed his mind. It wasn't that he never thought of dating, it was just that he didn't have an interest at the moment. He did have an interest in girls, like any guy his age would, but none of the ones he met seemed to be his type, whatever that was he still didn't know.

"She isn't my girlfriend," he said quickly. "She's just a girl that I met ten minutes ago." His mother looked taken aback as she waited for him to explain more. Jim ran a hand through his hair before continuing, "While I was on the roof, I saw a ship fly overhead. But this one was flying much lower than normal. As it passed over the inn, she fell off and I managed to catch her. She-"

"You what!" his mother said as she rushed over to him. She then started to inspect him for any injures he might have gotten from catching Ashe. Not that she would find any since Ashe had taken care of that herself.

Jim quickly took her hands into his own, stopping her from forcing his shirt off like she had managed with his jacket. He gave her a reassuring smile as he said, "Mom I'm fine." He was about to tell her what Ashe had done but stopped himself. Telling his mother about what Ashe had done to heal him of his pain didn't seem right. So he did the only thing he could think of and cursed himself for it. Lie. "The ship was really close to the ground. She didn't fall that far."

His mother held his gaze for a moment then shook her head in a reassuring way; he couldn't tell if it was meant for him or herself. "You were saying," she said now waiting for him to continue.

"She then asked if I knew a place for her to stay. She said she wanted to go to the Space Port but figured that no ships flew up there this late at night. So I was going to offer-"

"-To let her stay the night?" she finished for him. She sighed before smiling up at him. "Alright, I have a spare room she can have for the night." Jim smiled and then hugged her.

"Thanks Mom."

They then made their way back into the dining area, Ashe turning to them once they entered. His mother then walked over to Ashe, a large smile on her lips.

"Hello, I'm Sarah Hawkins. Jim told me that you needed a room."

"Oh, yes," Ashe said returning the smile. "I'm Ashe Aurion. Um, how much is a room. I only have Gil on me right now but if you allow me to go to my friends tomorrow I can get you the money if you take a different currency."

"Gil is fine. It will be two hundred and fifty Gil," his mother said after doing the math in her head quickly.

Ashe nodded and then started to rummage through her pockets again. She pulled out a small leather pouch shortly after from her inner jacket pocket. Small gold coins littered a nearby table as she emptied its contents onto it. Ashe started to count out the amount. She suddenly stopped as a look of shock and disbelief came over her face.

"Uh, I'm a hundred and twenty-five short," Ashe said as she rubbed her neck, which Jim guessed was a sign of nervousness by now.

His mother just smiled at her. "It's alright; just getting it to me tomorrow will suffice." Ashe let loose a sigh as she handed over the amount she had. At that moment, a loud growling sound was heard within the room. Once again, Jim lost count how many times he saw her do it already, Ashe's hand was on her neck. His mother just smiled and let out a small laugh. "That answers my next question. Here, sit down and let me get you something to eat. Jim do you want anything?"

"Yeah, a glass of water please," Jim said. His mother nodded and headed back into the kitchen to fetch the food. Ashe then collapsed into a chair close by. She rubbed her temples in an exhausted manner. Jim sat across from her and watched her for a while. "Nervous?"

Ashe looked up at him, her left hand still massaging her left temple. "You have no idea," Ashe mumbled. Jim was a little taken aback by her response. He had expected that to be her answer, but not the manner she had said it. Ashe sighed as her eyes closed. "Sorry, I'm kind of edgy when it comes to new people, especially when I'm on my own. I'm not saying that I'm a bad person," she added in quickly, "But right now I'm too tired to care about anything really." Ashe then opened her eyes and looked over at Jim. Jim wasn't sure how to respond to that. Thankfully at that point, Morph decided to come out from wherever he was. Morph rushed over to Jim and started to chirp and lick Jim's face wherever he could. Ashe stared curiously at Morph, her exhaustion temporally forgotten. "Is that a morph?"

"Yeah, I got him from a close friend," Jim said as Morph went over to inspect Ashe. Ashe held out a finger, which Morph landed on, and started to stroke the little blob. Ashe tilted her head from side to side Morph mimicking her movements.

"I've only read about them in books. All the books said that they are rare, even on the planet they inhabit, and that it is hard to even get them on any kind of film."

"Well, Morph is…a special case."

"Apparently," Ashe laughed, "he's extremely friendly for a creature that by nature is suppose to be shy." Morph then floated off of Ashe's finger to rub against her cheek and chirping, as if agreeing with her. It was then that Sarah came out with a bowl of soup and bread for Ashe and the glass of water Jim requested.

"Here you two go. Once you're done Jim can show you to the spare room we have. If you want anything else just ask," she said before disappearing once again into the kitchen. Dropping Morph onto her shoulder, Ashe started to tear apart the bread and then dunked the slices into the soup. Morph edged a little closer to Ashe's neck then, seeming to tell her that he wanted some too. Jim watched, mainly making sure Morph wasn't being a nudge, as he sipped his water. It was quiet for the most part, besides Morph chirping happily whenever Ashe tore a piece of her bread apart for him to have. Once she was done, Jim stood up.

"Come on, I'll show you upstairs." Ashe opened her mouth to say something, but Jim cut her off. "I'll clean up after I show you to your room." Ashe nodded in acceptance and followed him quietly. Once they got to the room, Jim handed over the key he had picked up on the way to her.

"Thank you, for everything," she said accepting the key. She then moved Morph onto her finger and then onto Jim's shoulder.

"No problem," Jim said about to turn around but Ashe stopped him by speaking.


	2. Chapter 2: Fight Night

**A/N: **Here goes chapter 2. I've come up with the thought of every now and then switching between Jim and Ashe's P.O.V. I will make it easy to tell who it is, maybe use some indicator between them, not sure yet. Also thanks for the reviews; it helped writing this chapter knowing that people were enjoying it so far.

**Falling For You**

** Chapter 2: Fight Night**

If there was one thing that Ashe hated the most, it was when someone disturbed her slumber. She had stayed up for at least a half hour after getting to her room to see if the ship she was on earlier was close by. She had easy access to the roof from her room if she climbed out her window, and for this she was thankful. She watched the area around the inn from the very top of the roof for about fifteen minutes. It had to have been an hour since she got off of that ship, and if no one noticed she was gone within that hour, then the people on it were as stupid as she took them to be when she first met them. After the fifteen minutes of watching the sky, she climbed down and got into her bed. The last fifteen minutes she spent trying to calm her body from the nervous feeling she had.

Ashe sat up and looked around groggily. 'What the hell woke me up,' she thought angrily as she tried to get the sleep out of her mind. She then felt another nudge on her cheek, the thing that had woke her up. She turned and saw a floating pink blob looking up at her with a worried expression on its face. "Morph," she said remembering the name that Jim had called it, "what the hell is wrong that you couldn't wake Jim up for?"

Morph then started to pull on her sports bra strap; she had taken off her tank top so that she could be more comfortable, trying to get her out of bed. Ashe groaned and got out of bed. Morph then moved over to her window, looking back to make sure Ashe was following. Once Ashe got to the window she looked out expecting to see something. But that was the thing. There was nothing. She turned then to Morph, who was floating out the window looking up at the sky with a confused expression on his face. She then climbed out the window and onto the roof, now fully awake and alert. The years of training in self-defense and her senses were going haywire. 'Why by Martell didn't I think about it before? Of course they would try to sneak up on me while I slept. And with innocent people around, I can't hurt them.' She managed to get up on the roof and started to survey the surrounding area.

Everything was quiet, which scared her the most. No animals, even within the town, were making any noise. If Morph's shivering form weren't on her shoulder then she would probably have thought nothing of it. But having been taught about animalistic habits and teachings told her otherwise. Even though there wasn't anything that seemed to be disturbing the town or the area between it and the inn, there had to be something to set the blob into a shivering heap.

Ashe descended down from the roof, deciding to take a look around inside the inn before heading back outside for a final look. Once in her room, she quickly put back on her shirt, jacket, and boots. She then opened her door a little to peek out before exiting. Everything in the hallway was just as she remembered when Jim walked her up, minus the lights being off instead of on. Ashe eased herself out of her room and as quietly as she could, made her way for the ascending staircase. On her way up, Ashe made sure to look for every possible exit and count every single room on the floor. She guessed that the inn consisted of the dining area and kitchen on the first level, the second level was for any guest that were staying, and that the third level was more dedicated to where the Hawkins actually lived. Ashe glanced at the staircase that led to the third floor. She figured that something had happened to Jim otherwise Morph probably wouldn't be with her at this moment. 'Wolf Star rule number 3, you owe a debt you see it paid, no matter what,' Ashe thought as she quietly made her way up the stairs. 'So the least I can do is make sure he's alright so that I can pay him back for saving me.' "Where is Jim's room, Morph?" she asked in a whisper.

Morph then zoomed up the stairs and hugged the right side of the wall once he reached the top. Ashe slowly followed him. Right as she was half way up the stairs, she stopped. Morph looked back at her as if to say, "Why did you stop?" Ashe's eye narrowed as she stared at a shadow that could be seen on the wall at the top of the stairs. She couldn't make out what it was of, but she still didn't want to chance anything. She bent down and took out a small handgun that was stored in one of her boots before continuing her way up. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she put her back to the wall and glanced around the corner. She couldn't see the shadow anymore but she could see that there was another hallway off of the main one. She then straightened herself and grabbed Morph before he could move from their spot. Most likely whatever she saw was still upstairs, probably down the hallway she had seen. 'Guess I'm playing the waiting game,' she thought bitterly as she leaned a little more comfortably against the wall. She lowered her gun slightly as she turned her head a little to try and listen for movement. She stroked Morph absent-mindedly with her thumb, trying to calm him.

And then she heard it, the slight creak of a floorboard. It didn't sound like it was coming from a near by room, because if it had, then there would have been more than one creak. Ashe didn't have to wait long to hear another creak, this one slightly closer to her. Slowly but surely, the sound of movement in the hallway grew louder. Once the person was at least halfway to her, she released Morph from his confinement. She held up a hand, hoping that he understood that she wanted him to stay. She edged as close as she could to the corner without giving away that she was there. She gave one quick glance back at Morph and was grateful that he did seem to understand what she wanted. Once she was sure that the person would find her on their next step to the stairs, Ashe reacted.

She quickly stuffed her gun in her belt and bolted around the corner. It happened too fast for even Ashe to see what she was doing. She grabbed the person's right wrist, twisted their whole right arm behind their back, drew her gun and then pointed it at their head with all of her body weight pressed against their right side so that they were slammed against the wall.

"Don't move," she hissed and she cocked the gun. Ashe was about to order the person to tell her what they were doing till she did a double take at her captive. She quickly released them from her lock and backed up to give them some space. "Jim, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"I think that's _my_ line," Jim hissed back as he turned around. Even in the dim light Ashe could tell that he wasn't feeling or looking all right. He looked like he had gone through hell and back. His hair was in disarray, most likely from waking up, and his clothes weren't that neat either. But what caught Ashe's attention more than anything were his eyes. Large dark bags could be seen under them, his pupils were dilated incorrectly with the amount of light in the hallway, and they were slightly blood shot as well. It looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in awhile. "What the hell are you doing sneaking around?"

Morph then decided to make his entrance. He rushed over to Jim and started to chirp, quietly thankfully, as he rubbed his body against Jim's cheek. Jim patted him lightly before turning back to Ashe. He opened his mouth to say something else but Ashe quickly stopped him by covering his mouth with her hand. She brought her other hand up, telling him to be silent, and as she pulled away she brushed her fingertips against the bottom of one of his eyes. She then narrowed her gaze as she concentrated on what was on the end of them. Her final examination was then to sniff them but her eyes just widen in surprise.

"Those bastards, how the hell did they get their hands on this? Great, looks like I'm going have to inform Captain Zoltan about this once I get back to the crew. Ashe then looked up at Jim. 'But right now I need to make sure Jim's alright, otherwise I break the one rule that even I hate to break.' "Where's a bathroom up here?" Ashe asked as she rubbed her fingers on her pants. Jim pointed down the hall but made no indication that he was going to move. Ashe rolled her eyes, grabbed his wrist again, and dragged him down the hall. If Jim was against what she was doing, he did a poor job in showing it. He made no move to protest nor did he voice any.

Once they reached the bathroom, Ashe pushed him in and locked the door behind them. She then grabbed a towel off the counter, wet it, and then threw it at Jim. "Wipe your eyes quickly. If you let that stuff set anymore, then you'll be unconscious till tomorrow." Jim rolled his eyes this time, apparently not believing what she said. Ashe folded her arms against her chest, leaned against the door, and glared at him. "Fine, don't believe me. But when you wake up tomorrow to your whole house ransacked then don't come crying to me." 'Not that I'll let that happen but still if it gets him to actually listen.'

Jim gave her one more questionable look before doing what she had said. "Are you going to answer my question?" Jim asked as he washed one of his eyes and glared at her with the other.

"Morph came in and woke me up," she answered as she stared at the ceiling. "My guess is that he tried to wake you up but couldn't because of the sleep spore in your eyes."

"Sleep spore?"

"Well, that's its street name; I forget what its scientific name is. Anyways, it's a substance that if the right amount is mixed in with any food or drink item, can give an illusionary high of dreaming. But if applied to the eyes, like what happened with you and most likely everyone else in this inn, then it can keep a person sleeping for a good twenty-four hours if they are given a small dose. Did Morph leave any evidence to show that he might have tried to wake you up?"

"Yeah, he poured water on my face. I woke up when I heard you on the stairs."

Ashe nodded, "It most of been enough to wash most of the spore out of your eyes."

"The others will wake if we wash their eyes out, right?"

"It's possible. I heard after a certain amount of time that even if it's washed out the sleep spore still affects the person. But I haven't heard any concrete evidence to confirm this. Does Morph usually act distressed if he isn't around you?"

"No," Jim said as he moved onto washing his other eye out. "He only acts like that if he's scared of something."

'So it is safe to assume that they are still within the inn. Now it's just a problem of finding them. Great.' Ashe's thoughts were stopped when she heard a loud slamming noise. She tore her eyes away from the ceiling to see Jim standing in front of her, a hand on the sink counter, glaring at her. He looked better than he did out in the hallway. He had smoothed out his hair, his eyes weren't blood shot anymore and his pupils weren't dilated incorrectly. "You think I did this, don't you?" Ashe said in a matter of fact voice.

"I see no reason not to," Jim's voice was just as hard as his glare. "I just met you today and you've given me no information about who you are besides your name. And only god knows why you were thrown off that ship."

"I wasn't thrown," Ashe said defensively as she glared back at Jim. "I fell off after tripping over some rope." 'Why by Martell did I say that?' "Anyway, if I had done it you would be dead by now. I could have easily killed you back in the hall, take whatever was valuable, and be gone before anyone else woke up. Hell, I can easily kill you now."

"If it wasn't you, then who else would have done it?" Jim asked seeming to ignore what she had said.

At this Ashe had to look away from him. She wouldn't be going against any rule if she told him the truth but that would mean dragging him into a whole slew of trouble. Who knew how much trouble she already got him and his mother in by just spending the night. The other thing was if she should trust him. It was apparent that whatever trust he had towards her, tiny if any, was on the brink of vanishing with what was going on at the moment. She let out another sigh before returning her gaze to Jim's, making her decision on what to do at that moment.

"How much do you know about Interstellar Police Core?" Ashe asked running a hand through her hair.

"They deal with any problems that are accruing on a planet, everyone knows that."

"Yes, but what everyone doesn't know is that they get swamped with requests for help. To stop that from happening, the Core set up groups of spacers called Combat Guilds. Combat Guilds, or C.G.s, take on the smaller request that the Core gets or are too busy to handle. Right now, I'm part of C.G. called Wolf Star. We were on our way to a job when our ship started to experience mechanical problems, so we were forced to stop up at the Space Port. My friends and I decided to kill time by seeing what Montressor was like since none of us have been here before. Unfortunately, I got separated from them and got kidnapped. I managed to escape but I fell off the ship, and well, that's how I met you." Ashe stopped to see if Jim was following her. It was hard for her to read his look but she could make out shock and somewhat disbelief, but mainly shock. She darted her eyes away from his as she continued, "Anyway, I had a feeling that whoever kidnapped me would return for me. So I believe this is their doing." Ashe then looked back at Jim, this time a more confidant look in her eyes. "Any questions?"

Jim stared at her for a moment or two. Ashe wasn't sure if it was the sleep spore that he might have missed or that the story was just that farfetched. She was about to get him out of his stupor when Jim finally spoke, "Who the hell are you?"

Ashe chuckled before answering with a smirk, "I told you, I'm Ashe Aurion and a member of the best C.G. in the Entherian, Wolf Star."

"Right…So now what?"

"Now, I go and take out the people that are trying to kidnap me, with your help most likely."

Jim stared at her blankly for another moment before opening his mouth. But before he could utter a word, a sound was made right outside the door. Ashe immediately got away from the door with her gun at the ready. Both teens stood there for a moment, Morph floating between them before he went into Jim's pocket with his eyes peeking out. Then the doorknob started to rattle as the person on the other side tried to open the door.

Ashe glanced over at Jim to see that he was doing the same. She then tossed him her gun before explaining, "Alright, when I open the door, I'll push them as far to the wall as I can. I need you to be right behind me with the gun. If they make a move to kill either of us, that is your signal to shoot. Don't be afraid to shoot, even if I'm in the way. Understand?" All Jim did was nod. Ashe quietly made her way back over to the door. Once she was there she looked back at Jim. "On the count of three," she mouthed to him. She then held up three fingers and started to count down. Once she was done, she quickly unlocked the door and was out of the bathroom in a flash. Ashe found it surprisingly easy to get the person against the wall along with the surprise that the person felt like metal. But her thoughts were quickly interrupted when a hand on her jacket collar pulled on her. She turned to see Jim dragging her and a yellow rust colored robot back into the bathroom.

Jim closed and locked the door this time before turning to the robot. "B.E.N what are you doing," he asked in a hushed voice.

"I thought I heard some voices so I thought I would check it out," B.E.N. said before he turned to Ashe. Ashe stared at him slightly wide eyed. It wasn't her first time interacting with a robot, but B.E.N gave off the vibe of being different than the ones she was used to. B.E.N started to shake Ashe's hand with vigor as he started to ramble, "Names B.E.N, Bio Electronic Navigator. What's your name, I want to say Sally."

"It's Ashe," she managed to get out before B.E.N continued.

"So you're Jimmy's new girlfriend that I've heard about. I had a girlfriend once. She was completely horrible but she had a nice body. I can't really remember her name though. Let me know if I start rambling. Anyways-"

"I'm not his girlfriend," Ashe cut Jim off before he could say it. B.E.N then looked between the two of them, which gave Ashe the chance to get her hand back.

"B.E.N you need to keep quiet, okay?" Jim said as he tried to get the point across. B.E.N opened his mouth to reply but Jim glared at him, which thankfully kept it shut. Ashe leaned against the wall and let out an annoyed sigh. All she wanted to do was find the pirates that were most likely in the inn, but she couldn't exactly do that at the moment. She was instead stuck with the innkeeper's son, his pink blob of a pet, and apparently his rambling robot friend.

'We need a plan,' Ashe thought as she started to rub her temples with her eyes closed. 'But I can't think of one without knowing where they fucking are. But sitting here is getting us nowhere. Oh, damn it all to the Void.' "You didn't see anyone else besides the two of us did you," Ashe asked as she opened her eyes to stare at B.E.N.

"Nope but I do think I heard some voices coming from downstairs. I came here first though, since it was closer."

"Right," Ashe said as she pushed herself off of the wall. She then went over to the door and unlocked it again. She was about to open it when Jim's hand on hers stopped her.

"Where are you going," he asked sternly.

"To get those pirates out of your house," Ashe said just as sternly back.

"Whatever happened to needing my help?"

"Right now, I need the two of you to stay out of my way and the best way for that to happen is by going to the police and getting help."

"Like that's going to happen. I'm going with you."

"No you aren't. I told you, you'll only get in my way and I also said you could trust me, which is what you need to do right now."

"And just how do you expect to take them all on? You don't even know how many are down there let alone if you could take them on. You said that they kidnapped you, so what makes you think they can't do it again?"

"I just know alright! Now by Martell stop getting in my way!"

"And I told you that I'm going with you!"

Ashe let out a low growl as she tore her hand off of the doorknob and out of Jim's. She then started to pace the length of the bathroom as she tried to sort through her thoughts in her anger. Jim, Morph, and B.E.N. watched her, Jim still with a determined look on his face that Ashe saw whenever she glanced at him. She let out a final growl before marching over to Jim. "Fine you and your friend can come but you are to follow my orders. If I say to run and leave me, then by Martell you better do it or I'll send you to the Void. I am understood?" Ashe asked as she jabbed a finger in Jim's chest.

He looked at her before replying, "Fine." Ashe stared at him a moment longer before nodding in acceptance.

"Put the gun on stun. It is best to have them alive. That way they can face a judge for their crimes. And," Ashe said as she turned to B.E.N, "In the hallway, we need to go down as quietly as we can. It will be in our best interest to surprise them, understand?" B.E.N nodded his head. Ashe glanced once more at them before opening the door. The group silently made their way to the stairway. Once they were there, Ashe stopped them as she peered around the wall. Sure enough she could hear the low murmur of voices. 'Sounds like they are in the dining area,' Ashe thought as she remembered that there was a piece of hallway on the second floor that allowed people to look down into the dining area. She then signaled the others to follow her as she made her way down the stairs. She was thankful that Jim at least seemed to know how to go down quietly. B.E.N made soft noises as he went, but it was most likely just his gears turning, so Ashe didn't blame him for that. Once they got close to the railing that over looked the dining area, Ashe got down on her stomach and crawled over to the railing. Jim followed closely behind her and lay next to her as they peered into the room below. Ashe quickly shook her head at B.E.N when she saw him try to make his way over. She pointed to the stairs, telling him to keep watch, which he understood with a nod. Ashe then went back to spying on her would-be-kidnappers.

Ashe let out a hiss as she saw what was going on below. Tied up to a chair with a cloth around her mouth, was Mrs. Hawkins. A large dark red reptilian like creature with long split ears that went slightly past its jaw held a gun pointed at her. A smirk, which showed off its jagged teeth and an evil glint in its beaded little eyes, could be seen. "I'd say we made out pretty well as it is, Boss. She will sell for a lot even at her age," the alien hissed as its smirk grew.

Out from underneath the railing came the reptilian's companion. It was a large; at least six feet tall, spider-like woman. She had the upper body of a beautiful woman with long black hair with night blue highlights. Her eyes had a human appearance to them but still had a golden spider hint to them as well. Her lower body was what defined her spider-like. It looked like the body of a black widow, right down to the deadly red mark on her back. The woman, if you could call her that, made her way over to Mrs. Hawkins with a similar smirk on her face as her reptilian companion. "Hmm, that's a possibility, but what I really want is that Sylvariant girl. Selling her alone will make us richer than even Flint."

"Like to Martell, that will happen," Ashe muttered as she continued to watch.

"Where the hell is Jub." She scowled "I swear if that pig-headed buffoon is eating again, I'll feed him to a saber-bear when I get the chance," the woman said angrily as she started to pace.

"Maybe he is also trying to find some other valuables for us," the reptilian offered as he glanced over to the stairway. It was then that one of the worst things happened. In his attempt to see better, Jim had moved slightly closer to the railing. Unfortunately this caused a floorboard to squeak under him. Ashe immediately pulled him and herself away from the railing. The two just sat there for moment, both of their hearts pounding. "Did you hear something Boss?"

"Hear what?" she asked.

"Nothing, I must be hearing things again."

"Whatever."

"You need to be careful," Ashe scolded Jim after the two pirates stopped talking. "Down there is a Bangaa and they have excellent hearing. If that dimwit hadn't dismissed that noise as something he thought, then we would have a fight on our hands much sooner than I would have liked."

"How about a fight now?" Both Jim and Ashe turned around to see a fat pig-like alien behind them. He had the nose and face of a pig with a light green horn stuck out of the top of his head. His ears went past his chin and were a dark blue as was the rest of his body; save for his belly and underneath his arms and legs. Two sharp tusk-like teeth stuck out of his mouth. His legs ended in hooves and seemed to be skinny compared to the rest of him. In one hand he held B.E.N's skinny frame and in the other a blaster, which he fired right at the floor beneath Jim and Ashe. Both teens gasped as the floor caved around them causing them to fall to the dining area.

Ashe let out a groan as she lifted herself up. She looked underneath her to see Jim moving in slight pain as he let out a groan. Ashe quickly helped him up as she muttered a: "Are you alright?" to him.

"My, my, look at what you have brought us Jub," the spider-woman said as the pig, apparently Jub, jumped down from the hole he made. He quickly let go of B.E.N, who got the gun that the reptilian was holding pointed at him, and lifted both Ashe and Jim to their feet, each with their hands in one of his own. Ashe glanced over at Jim to see that he still had a look of pain on his face.

'Great he must have hurt his back again by catching me…again,' she thought quickly. She then noticed that Jub hadn't taken her gun away from Jim. When they were looking down into the dining area, she vaguely remembered that Jim had pocketed the gun inside his jacket, instead of putting it into his belt.

"Hmm, aren't you a cutie," the spider-woman said as she took Jim's chin into her hand so she could get a better look at him. "He's in excellent shape as well. He will make for a fine laborer."

"Is drug dealing not working out for a hag like you then, Miranda?" Ashe asked as a plan started to form in her mind. At this, Miranda quickly turned to Ashe with a deep scowl on her face. Without warning, she punched Ashe right in the cheek and forced her out of Jub's grasp. Ashe went flying across the floor where she landed with a loud thud a few feet away. Ashe coughed up some blood as she got up onto her knees and hands as Miranda moved towards her.

"What by the devil's name did you say bitch!" Miranda growled with venom in her voice.

"I'm pretty sure I called you a hag, ugly," Ashe said as she wiped some blood off of her mouth while looking up at Miranda. This just earned Ashe another hit, this time aimed at her stomach by one of Miranda's many long legs. Ashe crashed into a leg of a table, taking it out and causing the table to fall on her. Thankfully, to her at least, she wasn't knocked unconscious but she pretended to be. Ashe heard Miranda make her way over to her and the possible sound of Jim trying to fight his way out of Jub's grip but failing miserably. She then felt Miranda grab the front of her shirt and lift her off of her feet. Spit then landed on her bruised cheek and Ashe had to resist the urge to cringe in disgust.

"If you weren't worth more than your weight in gold I would gladly kill you," Miranda hissed out. "Bwagi, stop pointing that thing at that shaken piece of tin and hold her. I want all of her clothes taken off as well, just so what happened on the ship doesn't happen again. Jub, tie him and the robot up. I'm going to look around some more. When I come back, we'll throw them on the ship and get off of this hell hole of a planet." Miranda then dropped Ashe and made her way up to the second floor. Ashe allowed Bwagi to take her clothes off but once he got her down to her underwear, her eyes opened and she started to act.

'My martial artist outfit should be enough to take them down and do little damage to the inn,' Ashe thought as light ribbons started to wrap around her body. Soon she was in a dark blue short sleeve kimono top. Short dark blue shorts that went to her mid thigh appeared along with matching slippers. A cloth belt was tied around her waist with its ends down to her knees.

Once she felt her clothes reappear, she quickly elbowed Bwagi in the stomach. She then side kicked him in the same spot and sent him flying to the other side of the room. She then turned and ran to where Jub was. Jub seemed to be more than ready for her attack. He bent his head down so that his horn was pointed at her and started to charge at her. 'Does he really expect that to work?' Ashe thought as she let out an inner sigh. She dodged Jub's attack and managed to stick out her foot so that Jub would trip over it. She then finished him off by kicking him right in between the legs causing him to howl out in pain. She then went over to Jim, where he was tied up to a post that held up the second floor.

She quickly untied him as she spoke in a rushed whisper, "I need you to get your mom and B.E.N out of here as quickly as possible. Those two are easy to take care of, but once Miranda comes back then I can't be worrying about the safety of others." It was then that Bwagi decided to interrupt them by firing at them. Both teens quickly made it behind an upturned table. Bwagi continued to fire at them. Jim quickly got up and returned fire before falling back down beside Ashe. He then opened his mouth to argue again but Ashe shook her head. "Remember, this was part of the agreement. I can take care of myself fine but when it comes down to this I can't say the same when others are involved." A smirk then appeared on her face as she looked at him. "Besides, now I owe you twice for saving my life. The least I can do is save yours once, right?" Jim let out a sigh but nodded all the same. "Right, when I charge for Bwagi, run over to B.E.N and grab him. I then need you to get to your mother quickly, I don't know how long till Miranda comes back or how much time I can get you by distracting these two. Anyway, head for their ship and go to the police in town. Also, call up the Space Port and ask for Zoltan Ruslan of the Wolf Star. Tell him everything that has happened since we met." Jim nodded as he glanced one more time over the table. "We move on three-One…two…three!"

Ashe quickly made her way around the table and ran as fast as she could towards Bwagi. Bwagi focused fire on her but she managed to dodge every one of his shots. When she was within range, she threw a right hook aimed for his face, which Bwagi managed to block by using his gun. What he didn't expect was Ashe attacking him again with a roundhouse kick aimed at his ribs. Ashe pulled the gun out of Bwagi's hands and she turned to Jim. "Jim," she called as she threw the gun at him. He caught it right as he reached his mother. 'Good, it shouldn't take him long to get her out of here.' Just then, Ashe had the wind knocked out of her as she went flying towards the floor again.

"Ashe," she heard Jim call out. Ashe opened her eyes and tried to get up but found that a large black hairy body was forcing her to lie back down.

"Why hello little bitch," Miranda said as she bent her head back down. Ashe glared at her and spit in her face the same way Miranda had done to her. Miranda then let out a cry of anger as she slammed one of her feet towards Ashe, but Ashe managed to roll out of the way even within the confines of Miranda's many legs. This also gave Ashe a look to see how Jim was doing. But what she saw made her heart drop. Jim, with his mother and B.E.N behind him, was stuck between Jub now with the broken table leg in hand and a wall. Bwagi had also regained himself once again and was making his way towards the group as well. "It looks like your boyfriend is in a bit of a bind. Oh well, the two of you will still sell for a pretty penny once you heal up." Ashe then turned back onto her back to try and fight her way out but her attempt ultimately failed. Miranda managed to quickly pin one of her wrists to the floor with a foot, causing Ashe to cringe in pain. "So tell me, what does it feel like-" But before Miranda could finish the door to the inn was thrown open. Ashe bent her head back to see who had entered the inn to see if they were another bystander or an enemy. What she saw made her gulp.

A tall man, probably about six feet, walked into the dinning room then. He had flaming red hair that was spiked with a small bang that just reached in between his eyebrows. His eyes were the same color gold as the richest yellow of a star. His pale skin stretched over toned muscles. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with a dark brown jacket that went down to his ankles and the sleeves cut off it. Baggy black pants were tucked into the tops of his black boots that went to his mid calf. Two gold earrings finished off his outfit, one was a medium sized loop that was attach to the lob of his ear and the other was on the upper part of his ear with a small sea blue tear drop jewel attached to it.

The man's eyes roamed over the room till he saw Ashe. He locked eyes with her as Ashe muttered, "Captain…"

**A/N:** Cliffhanger maybe? Anyway, I loved writing this chapter. I got stuck but after watching TP, I managed to get past it. I loved writing the moments with Ashe and Jim butting heads. This chapter is only long because I want to get the actual story on the way and the only ways for me do that was to introduce Zoltan as soon as possible. I'm thinking that after chapter three, the real story should start so I'll try and get it out as soon as possible.


	3. Chapter 3: Enter Zoltan Ruslan

**A/N: **I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed my work, as well as thank you for your constructive compliments and criticism. It has come to my attention that Ashe failed to live up to the image she portrayed in chapter 1, causing her to look childish and immature. I assure you that this behavior was spur-of-the-moment hot-headedness, not a temper tantrum. I would also like to apologize for Ashe on a few other levels. Ashe is my original character, and I have more attachment to her and her point of view than I do Jim's, and as a result it is probable that Ashe seemed a lot more powerful than Jim seemed in chapter 2. Writing can be tough, and I failed to realize that this is supposed to be a "Treasure Planet" fan-fiction, not a stomping ground for my original characters to dominate the plot of a Disney masterpiece. I will continue writing this story as best I can, and look forward to hearing back from you.

Falling For You

**Chapter 3: Enter Zoltan Ruslan  
**

Time seemed to stop during that moment that the man had entered the inn. To say that Jim was on edge was an understatement. He still wasn't feeling well; even after getting the sleep spore out of his eyes, he still felt extremely tired. Because of that, he was more irritable than he normally was, and he could tell that he wasn't at his full strength either. Following Ashe's lead seemed to be the best plan: if she knew how to deal with these pirates, than he would not interfere with her. But when the new man had entered the inn, Jim wasn't sure what to think. If he was another enemy, then that would mean that he would have to take him on himself, since Ashe had her hands full trying to hold off Miranda. But when he heard what Ashe had said he was soothed, and his confidence rose.

The man then walked farther into the room and seemed to have the attention of everyone within it. Once he was half way between Jim and Ashe, he stopped and looked at Miranda. Miranda glared at the man, seemingly to forget all about Ashe; who was currently in a pinch under one of her many legs.

"Zoltan Ruslan, the famous Flame Molder, I'd figured you would come," Miranda growled out.

"I believe ya have one of me crew mates," Zoltan said in a thick Scottish accent. "I'd appreciate it if ya let 'er go."

"Not a chance you police dog," Miranda scowled as she made a move towards Zoltan. But Ashe stopped her. She quickly hooked a leg around a few of Miranda's legs and just as quickly, dug the blade of her foot into each of their joints. Miranda let out a howl of pain as she collapsed onto the ground. She lifted her upper half to grab Ashe again. Ashe was slowly lifted into the air and her grip began to crush the air out of Ashe's wind pipe. She was fading fast, and Zoltan and Jim knew that if they didn't act soon, she would probably die. Miranda tightened her grip and guffawed as her victim struggled to regain control. Just as her face began to pale, Miranda howled and dropped Ashe, and just as quickly, fell on the floor unconscious. Above the heap of spider stood Jim, gun in hand, sweating and breathing heavily. It wasn't an easy shot, and if Miranda had looked away from Ashe for just a fraction of a second, she surely would have seen him and disarmed him. But this caused both Jub and Bwagi to go into even more rage at seeing their boss go down. Jim turned then to Jub who was charging him from the front and was readying to fire the gun once again. But he was taken by surprise when something jumped into between Jub and himself.

Jim stood in awe as a large male lion stood in front of him emanating a strong golden flame. The lion stood at the height of Jim's shoulder and was the length of his solar surfer from its nose to the tip of its tail. The flames that formed it seemed to dance on an invisible wind. Its eyes were a much richer gold then the rest of it and seemed to hold an unknown knowledge. What also surprised Jim about the lion was that even though it was made out of fire, it didn't give off that great of heat. It didn't make the tables or chairs that were close to it combust or char the floorboards below it. The heat it gave off was actually soothing in a way. It reminded Jim a lot of the heat he remembered feeling off of the stone that Ashe had attached to her arm. The lion turned its head to look at him for a moment and then stared back at Jub, who had stopped also surprised by the lion's sudden appearance. The lion then crouched down into a fighting stance and started to growl. Jub jumped slightly as he heard the growl.

"Don't worry lad," Zoltan laughed as he stared at Jim. "Let 'im take care of that tub o' lard. I'll take care of lizard face over here; if ya could take care of Angel I'd appreciate it."

Jim nodded at Zoltan. He then pocketed Ashe's gun and took his mother's hand as he then went over to Ashe. Ashe was beginning to regain consciousness, and Jim helped her to her feet, and she quickly reoriented herself with the rest of the room. His mother then started to inspect her injuries.

"Well you're developing a nice bruise on your cheek," his mother said as she lightly touched the cheek that Miranda punched. Even the slightest contact seemed to make Ashe cringe in pain. "Lift up your shirt; we need to see if you have any broken ribs." Ashe obeyed and lifted up her shirt. An even nastier bruise was developing there and it took up all of her stomach. Jim's mother then proceeded to feel along Ashe's ribs, which caused Ashe to hiss out in pain. "Well it doesn't seem like any of them are broken, you still should have a doctor look at them, though."

"Don't worry," Ashe said as she pulled her shirt back down, "I'm going to be forced to see a doctor whether I like it or not."

Throughout his mother's inspection, Jim really wasn't paying attention. He was more focused on the fight between Bwagi and Zoltan. The lion seemed to have taken Jub down in the time it took him to get to Ashe, as it was now sitting next to an unconscious Jub and it was watching Zoltan as well. Jub harbored some burns that were in the shape of claw and bite marks, which the lion seemed to be proud of as it sat there.

Zoltan and Bwagi hadn't moved an inch since Zoltan had declared Bwagi his opponent. Zoltan now wore a smirk on his face as he stared at Bwagi. Bwagi scowled at him as he reached around into his pocket. Zoltan raised a questioning eyebrow as Bwagi drew what appeared to be a metal rod. After pressing a button on the rod, it formed into a metal whip, which Bwagi then cracked upon its appearance.

"I'll give ya the chance now, surrender and tell me everything ya're little group is up to, or ya'll join your friends and have to talk to the police for yer crimes."

"Like I'll go along with that," Bwagi hissed out.

"Yer choice mate," Zoltan said with a shrug. Bwagi then threw the whip at Zoltan. But instead of hitting him, the whip wrapped around the arm that Zoltan had lifted to block the attack with. Bwagi then reached into his pocket again, this time pulling out another gun, and started to retract the whip by the push of another button. Slowly Zoltan started to drag towards Bwagi. Zoltan tried everything to get out the whip off of his arm but nothing seemed to work. Bwagi just smirked evilly as he watched Zoltan struggle. Ashe made a move to get up but she soon collapsed back onto the ground, sitting up with the support of his mother.

Jim then pointed the gun at Bwagi but Bwagi turned and pointed his own gun at Ashe and Jim's mother. "I wouldn't do that boy. You are still feeling the effects of the sleep spore and I'm sure that I'm a better shot than you."

"So that's how ya did it, huh," Zoltan said as a smirk appeared on his face once again. "I was wondering why me son and his friends weren't feeling so well and why they allowed Angel to be kidnapped."

"What?" Ashe growled out as she turned to Bwagi. "You bastards drugged my friends?"

"Oh shut up," Bwagi snapped as his eyes darted quickly at Ashe before going back to Zoltan. Zoltan then seemed to decide that it was time for him to fight back. He lifted his arm and all of a sudden it went up into flames. The end of the whip that was attached to his arm fell to the floor.

"Me flames can melt through anything," Zoltan explained with a smirk. "I'm afraid ya chose the wrong person to fight, mate."

Bwagi growled, re-pointed his gun at Zoltan, and fired. Zoltan ducked out of the way and charged at Bwagi faster than even Ashe could. He threw an upper cut punch right at Bwagi's jaw and finished him off with an instep kick right at his chest. Bwagi was thrown back by the force of the kick and was sent flying through a window.

"I can pay for that," Zoltan said as he looked sheepishly over at the group on the floor. Both Jim and Ashe as looks of astonishment at Zoltan's displayed strength. Jim wasn't sure if his mother's look was the same as his and Ashe's or if it was shock that at least two tables and a few chairs was now destroyed due to the brawl. Zoltan then walked over to the group, the flame lion joining him. He knelt down and cupped Ashe's face gently in one of his large hands. "Ya did a number on yerself, huh." Ashe just looked away at the comment as a faint blush started to appear on her un-bruised cheek. Zoltan then scooped her up bridle style, which this time caused Ashe to verbally protest.

"Captain, I can stand on my own!" she said as Zoltan walked over and placed her gently into a chair.

"From what I saw, ya'd have trouble standing with that bruise on yer stomach." Ashe opened her mouth to protest once again but shut it after Zoltan stared her down. He then climbed out the broken window and walked out of sight for a moment. He then came back with some pieces of rope and went about tying up Miranda and Jub. Once the two pirates inside were tied up, he lifted Miranda with great ease and went back out the window. He repeated the process with Jub, seeming to struggle slightly more this time. He stayed out slightly longer than he did before, but came back in with a satisfied look on his face. He then turned to Mrs. Hawkins. "Ma'am, if I couldn't trouble ya for a first aid kit to see to the lass here, I have a doctor on board me ship that will look at her when I get her back. For now I need her to at least be able to walk."

"Oh yes," Mrs. Hawkins said as she stood up. "This way, B.E.N, could you help as well? I think I might have more bandages somewhere else." She then made for the stairs but stopped when Zoltan started to go through some of his inner coat pockets.

"I'd gladly help Mrs. Hawkins," B.E.N. said for the first time in awhile.

He pulled out a small bottle that looked like hand cream and tossed it to Jim, who caught it. "Put a bit o' that in your eyes lad. That should get out the rest of the spore. It doesn't take much; we need it anyways for anyone else affected by the spore." Jim muttered his thanks, gaining a smirk from Zoltan before Zoltan went off with his mother to get a first aid kit.

That left himself and Ashe alone. Jim glanced over at Ashe before dabbing a little bit of the cream onto his fingers and then rubbing it into his eyes. Instantly he started to feel better, tired but not as irritated or dazed. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Ashe had been watching him, which he guessed she had been the whole time. But when he returned her gaze she immediately looked away. They stayed like that for at least another minute before Ashe sighed and looked back at him.

"I want to apologize for the way I acted earlier," she said as she rubbed her right arm. "It was wrong of me to yell at you like that. Distrust on the battlefield will only bring death and we were fortunate that didn't happen. Again, I'm sorry."

"Its fine," Jim said as he let her words sink in. "I wasn't in the right state of mind anyway."

"You hurt your back again didn't you?" It was then that Jim remembered the fall and the pain that had went through his back afterwards. It seemed that the pain wanted to be remembered at that very instant, and it came back at full force. Most likely the adrenaline rush he had gotten from being in the fight had kept the pain at bay, but now that the adrenaline wasn't there anymore, it came back.

"Yeah," he grunted as he started to rub his lower back. Ashe jerked her head at a chair in front of her, telling him to sit down.

"Here, I'll heal it once again for you. Sit with your back to me and lean on the back of the chair." Jim did as he was told. Ashe lifted his shirt and soon he felt her hands on his back once again. Ashe whistled as she looked at it. "This might take longer than before. I'm not preventing a bruise like before; you've actually managed to cut yourself this time." This time the pain didn't vanish as instantly has it had earlier that night. But the feeling of whatever she was doing was just as soothing and he welcomed the tingling feeling instead of the pain. He jumped slightly when he started to feel small pinches going along his back. "Sorry, I should have warned you about that." The pinching feeling soon went away along with the pain.

"Thanks," Jim sighed as he sat right in the chair.

"No problem," Ashe said as she leaned back against her chair, but then sat back up with a look of pain on her face. "Damn it to the Void, I guess that's what I get for being a smart ass."

"Why don't do you heal yourself up?" Jim asked. He had been wondering this for awhile. He never encountered someone that had the strange power that Ashe did. He was curious has to how it worked since it was now apparent that it wasn't limited to healing wounds but also to make clothing magically appear on her.

Ashe looked at him questioningly as she rested her chin on her palm that was leaning on the table, finding this to be a more relaxing position that didn't cause her pain. "You're wondering how I perform my magic- right?" Jim nodded his head, a little too tired to do anything else. Ashe looked over at a painting before sighing once again and looked back at him. "I guess I can tell you the basics, I'm still learning myself." She once again sat up but kept her arm resting on the table. "Performing spells is actually quite easy. Everyone can do it if they have the right patience, concentration, and teaching. But even though it's easy doesn't mean it is for everyone. First to perform a spell, the person has to have complete control of their mana."

"Mana?"

"Mana, is the life force of everything." Ashe then turned to look at the living flame that was sitting next to them. Jim looked at it as well and was slightly surprised. Instead of it being a lion it had now taken the form of a wolf. It was still the same size as the lion was though. "Charge is an example of just that. Captain brings to life a flame that he produces and combining his own mana and that of the flames, Charge is created." Charge then decided to walk over to him and started to sniff his pants leg. Morph, who had decided to come out of his pocket a while ago and who was currently sitting on his shoulder at the time, took great interest in the living flame. Morph floated down and began his own inspection of Charge. Charge followed Morph's movement with great curiosity.

"Why is he called Charge?" Jim asked as he watched the two interact.

"That's a long story," Ashe said as she too watched them. "And I think I should first finish my explanation before I tell it." Jim nodded and then returned his gaze to her. "Anyway, once a person can control their mana then they can perform spells. The spells that a person can perform depends on how much mana they can release and the type of spell they are using."

"What do you mean?"

Ashe looked around the room again, trying to find a better way to example. She then looked at Charge once again. "Flame molding is probably the best example I can think of that you've seen so far. Any Flame Molder can engulf a certain part of their body in flames, like Captain did to get the whip off of his arm. But for Captain to create Charge, it takes a lot. Also right now, Captain is a good distance away from Charge, which causes him to use up even more mana. Right now the only reason why Captain isn't passed out is because he has a lot of mana, so he can perform spells like this."

"So if a person uses up too much mana, they go unconscious?"

"Yes, pretty much. Since mana is the main life force of everything, if a person uses up too much then they will feel that effect as a loss of fatigue. Using up all of a person's mana can also result in death but that can be avoided as long as someone close by knows mana manipulation."

"So your Captain uses his mana to create…" Jim looked over at Charge who looked back at him before going on, "objects." Charge nodded his head in approval before going back to whatever game him and Morph were playing. "How does your magic work?"

"Mine? Well, my healing is simple mana manipulation. By sending my mana into a person's body, I can cause their mana to heal their wounds, both internal and external, at a much faster pace then it would normally. As for my ex-quip magic, the magic that changes my clothing, it's a little more complicated.

"My ex-quip magic is mana manipulation but on a far larger scale than that of my healing. I make my own clothes out of mana absorbing thread. By manipulating the mana around me, I can store several outfits into an alternate space which then when I manipulate the mana around me causes the clothes I want to appear. The mana absorbing thread is used so I can locate my clothes easier since I know what my mana feels like. It also allows me to inscribe each outfit with a different-strength- if you will."

Jim was about to question about this, seeing how it sounded interesting how she could get a different power from just putting on a different outfit, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of Zoltan and his mother coming back. Both Ashe and he turned to see that his mother and Zoltan had acquired two more members of their group. Amelia and Delbert had joined the group now, most likely due to his mother asking Zoltan to help them like he had done with Jim. Delbert seemed to be in a somewhat heated argument with Zoltan, who was calm as he led the group back down into the dinning area.

"What you are saying can't be done!" Delbert declared as they walked down the stairs.

Ashe let out a groan as she covered her eyes with a hand. "What have you done now, Captain," Jim heard her mutter.

"Sir, if ya would please be so kindly as to keep yer voice down, I would gladly tell everything I know of the drug. But as of right now, attending to me crewmember's injuries and making sure that I pay Mrs. Hawkins for the damage that both me self and me crewmember has caused, comes first," Zoltan said has turned to Delbert with the sternest look on his face. Once he was sure that Delbert would not speak out again, he then turned and walked over to the two teens. Ashe uncovered her eyes and looked up at him as he knelt down in next to her. "Now, we can't return to the ship right away since it seems that whatever is affecting the ship has gotten into the long boats as well. I plan on sending Charge back up to the ship to request that Cloud comes down and repairs the long boat that is here. But we will most likely be spending some time here."

"How long," Ashe asked.

Zoltan stood up, turned and started to scratch under his chin. He glanced over at Ashe before saying, "At least two weeks."

"Two weeks?! Captain what about the mission, the deadline to meet with all those clients is in a week and it takes at least four days to get to Zealand."

"I know Ashe," Zoltan said with a sigh as he turned to her. "But yer health comes first. There is no way ya can move on your own and ya can't heal your own wounds like ya can with others. The others will skin me alive if I went back to me ship without ya, even if I could."

"Captain, I don't mind being left behind. Tell Cloud to come down and repair the long boat and head off to Zealand. I'll heal up here and on your way back to the Core you can pick me up."

"No, Ashe," Zoltan growled. He knelt back down so they were eye level again. This action caused Ashe to look away from him but he forced her to look at him by cupping her chin in his hand. Then in a much more soothing voice with a smile on his face he said, "We are Nakama and the health of one of our Nakama always comes before a job." He then stood up and looked out the window while scratching the back of his head. "Anyways, I'm going to try and fix it up the best I can till Cloud gets here. I was thinking of bringing it to a mechanic in town but I only brought a little Gil with me."

"You need a mechanic?" Sarah said as she returned the room with a tray of cups, which Jim guessed she left to get when she came back downstairs.

"Yes, the long boat I used to get down here isn't working properly. I hate to ask ya but I was hoping that Angel and I could stay here till one of my mechanics can come down to fix it."

At that moment, his mother looked at him. It had crossed his mind that he could at least attempt to repair their long boat. But it sounded like Zoltan wanted a professional to do the job. Now that his mother was in the room and heard what Zoltan had said though, he bet she was going to ask him to do it. "Jim can take a look at it for you." Yep, he knew it.

Zoltan looked at him with a curious gaze. "_Ya're a_ _mechanic_?"

"Yeah, I build my own solar surfers and I have worked on a ship before, but not as a mechanic."

"Built his first solar surfer when he was eight," his mother said proudly as she handed Ashe a cup that smelt like tea.

"Really now," Zoltan said as a daring smirk came onto his face. "Well I would appreciate it if ya took a look at it. Like I said I only brought so much money with me. I have enough to pay off Angel's debt," at this Ashe glared at Zoltan over her cup of tea but Zoltan either ignored her or didn't see it, "and to pay for any repairs that need to be done to this room."

"Alright, I'll take a look," Jim said as he stood up.

Ashe made a move to stand but his mother stopped her. "We need to get you bandaged up." Ashe looked up at her, then at Zoltan, and then nodded her head. His mother, with the every watching eye of Amelia and Delbert, started bandaging up Ashe's stomach once Ashe took her shirt off. It was then that Zoltan and Jim left the dining area with Charge and Morph following behind them.

"Well, here she is," Zoltan said as they arrived to the long boat. Jim examined the outside of the boat but found nothing wrong with the hull or that of the main thrusters. He then climbed in and started to inspect the engine. Zoltan climbed in as well and watched him from his sit at the bow of the boat. With his feet propped up on the bench in front of him, he watched as Jim went about looking at some wires. They stayed in silence for the most part; the only noise being made was Morph and Charge continuing their game outside.

"It seems like some of the wires that are connected to the solar source have been worn down. You'll need to replace them, but I can do a temporary fix so that you guys can at least get back up to the Space Port," Jim said as he turned to look at Zoltan.

Zoltan sighed, "I'm not too surprised by that. I've been low on mechanics for awhile now, so letting something get pasted them like that would happen. They are too concerned with getting the main ship going and haven't really been paying attention to the long boats."

"How many mechanics do you need?" Jim asked as he went about fixing the wires.

"At least fifteen men I reckon to take care of the main ship and the long boats. A rival of mine bought out nine of them to work for him," Zoltan growled the last part out and had a look of disgust on his face before he went on, "Thankfully me best mechanics stayed, but the ship is too big even for them to keep track of all its problems." They fell into silence once again. Zoltan was the one to break the silence this time. "Tell me, have ya ever been a part of a crew before?"

"I was a cabin boy for a short time. I was taught how to take care of a ship but not the mechanics behind it."

"Still," Zoltan said as he went about rubbing his chin again, "Ya've experience with a crew and seem to know yer way around machinery." He then looked up at the sky, as if deep in thought. When he looked back at Jim again he had that same daring smirk he had before. "I have a" he paused "offer for ya, lad. I told ya how I've lost some of my mechanics and how me current ones can't really keep track of all the problems on me ship. I was wondering if ya'd be interested in working for me."

Jim stared at him wide eyed. Either he had zoned out due to the lack of sleep or he believed that Zoltan just gave him a job. "What did you say??" Jim said wanting to make sure he was hearing the older man correctly.

"I'm giving ya a position on me ship. Ya have a mighty fine head on yer shoulders; one I think shouldn't go to waste. If ya work for me, ya'd be made into an apprentice to me head mechanic. Ya'd be paid the same amount as the rest of the crew on the flat rate, and more if yer on a mission. How about it, lad?"

Jim looked away from him with a solemn look. Having been offered a job on a boat had sent a wave of joy through him, but then he remembered why he hadn't taken jobs at all, even if they had been offered to him before now. He didn't want to be like his father and leave without a word. 'But that doesn't mean I can't ask Mom what she thinks of the idea. It sounds like I'd be paid well even from the start, and that would help out the inn.' Suddenly, Jim realized the prospects of this job. From what Ashe made it sound, there were constant adventures and just knowing that sent a thrill through him that he thought he lost forever after his trip to Treasure Planet.

Morph and Charge seemed to have stopped their game in favor of listening to what their masters were talking about. After Zoltan's offer, the two had decided that they wanted to be a part of the discussion as well. Charge morphed into a bird of prey; by the looks of it a hawk, and sat on Zoltan's shoulder. Morph went straight to Jim and started to rub his cheek, jerking him out of his train of thought. He looked over at Zoltan, who still had that smirk on his face, before replying, "I'm not sure. Right now it's just my Mom and I, so I'm not too sure about leaving."

Zoltan nodded in empathy as he said, "Aye, I know where yer coming from. Felt the same way whenever I left me family for a mission. How about this, ya work for me for a month; if yer mother or ya feel like it isn't the right kinda life for ya, then I'll send ya home with the pay ya earned within that month. If ya do decide that ya want to stay then ya'll be made into a permanent crew member, till ya decide that it's time for ya to leave."

Jim rolled the new offer around in his mind, before nodding in acceptance. "Alright, but I'll have to talk it over with my Mom first. When do you plan to ship off?"

"Me mechanics think they can have her air born by midday tomorrow. I'll come by at about ten o'clock tomorrow to get yer answer." Jim nodded his head in understanding as he finished up his repair.

"Alright, you should be good to go now."

"Excellent," Zoltan said as he stood up, causing Charge to leave his shoulder. Charge flapped around his master, letting out cries of excitement as if to agree with his master. The two got out of the boat and walked back up to the inn.

On the way up, a thought came to him. "How much do you pay your crew?"

Zoltan glanced down at him before replying, "Let's see, I normally pay them in Gil but ya use pounds here if I remember right. So yer pay in pounds would come out to be…five hundred pounds a month without any mission rewards added in."

"Five hundred!" Jim said as he looked up at Zoltan with shocked eyes.

Zoltan laughed. "Remember lad, I pay me crew in Gil. Gil is worth much more than pounds. In Gil each crew member earns about two hundred and fifty a month. The real money is in the reward from missions." Even with this information, Jim still couldn't handle the amount. The amount that the inn managed to get in a whole year was a little bit more than the amount he could get in a single month as a part of this crew. And then by the sounds of it he could increase it even more if he took part in missions. He could easily have his mother retire by the time he turned twenty-five.

It was then that they reached the inn and they started to hear an argument from inside. Zoltan sighed, "That girl is more of a hand full than zaber cubs." They then entered to see Ashe and Delbert in a conversation, if you could call it that.

Delbert had on a face of mix between bewilderment and anger. Ashe on the other hand, looked to be completely calm as she sipped her tea. Amelia didn't look that happy as she watched from the chair Jim was in earlier. "Sir, I told you everything I know about the drug. Those are the symptoms and if you don't believe me then you ask Jim about them. He is the one that experienced it the most, not I."

"But a drug like that just can't exist! For one I've never heard of it," Delbert said in a completely calm voice.

"It's more common out in the Cerberus Cloud area, really. My guess is that those three tried to get the drug out here, but when I found them, their plans couldn't be accomplished. So they tried to get rid of me, hence how we ended up in this situation."

Delbert opened his mouth to say something else but Amelia cut him off, "Delbert, shut you're howling screamer," she growled out. Delbert did what he was told.

"Sir, tomorrow I'll bring ya all the information on the drug I have on me," Zoltan said seeming to want his and Jim's presence known. All three at the table turned and looked over at them. "But as of right now, I would like to get Angel up to me ship to be looked at." At this Ashe's head slumped a little bit. "Angel ya knew I was going have ya looked at."

"I know but that doesn't mean I have to like it either," Ashe retorted back as she looked over her shoulder at him. "She's going to have me sit in the infirmary for at least the rest of the day. That's going to bore me out of my mind, Captain! Can you at least tell her to have me rest in my own room while I recover?"

"It's whatever Maroon thinks is best for ya," Zoltan said as he went over to help Ashe up. Ashe let out a groan, either from standing or whatever it sounded like she was going to go through once she got back to the ship, it was hard to tell. Zoltan reached into an outer coat pocket and then tossed a small leather pouch at Jim. "That should cover for Angel's expenses, when I come by tomorrow I'll have the rest of the payment. If ya could tell yer mother that I'll greatly appreciate it."

"Yes sir," Jim said with a nodded. Zoltan returned it himself, and then, with an arm wrapped around Ashe's shoulders, he started to walk out of the inn.

"I'll talk to ya tomorrow, Doc. Have a nice day Mrs. Doppler," Zoltan said over his shoulders as he and Ashe reached the door.

"Bye," Ashe said with a small wave. Both of them then left the inn. Charge had decided to linger for a little bit, still in his hawk form. He chirped a good bye to Morph, who mimicked the sound. He then flew in front of Jim and hovered there. He chirped what sounded like encouragement before following his master out the inn. Jim watched from where he stood as the long boat, now with another attached to it from the stern, took off into the sky.

The room was quiet for a moment before Delbert decided to break it with a slight cough. "So how was he?" he asked looking at Jim. Taking a wild guess, Jim figured that Delbert meant Zoltan.

"He's alright. He seemed nice at least," Jim said with a shrug. He had debated on telling Amelia and Delbert about Zoltan's offer but figured that he might as well wait for his mother so then he only had to say it once.

"I've heard a bit about him," Amelia said as she sipped her tea. "Good fellow, if I remember correctly. Has done a lot for the Core. He's rumored to be in charge of one of the strongest Guild's that the Core has ever seen. That girl was nice as well. Very polite, even though she didn't seem that comfortable once you and Mr. Ruslan left."

"She told me she doesn't do well with people she doesn't know," Jim explained as he remembered Ashe's apologies from earlier. Amelia nodded in confirmation. Then his mother came back in.

"They left already?" she asked as she looked around.

"It was a minor problem," Jim said as he walked over to her. He handed her the money as he explained, "Zoltan left this. It's the rest of Ashe's payment." His mother nodded and took it from him. Now came the hard part. He wasn't sure how he should put it. Remembering how she acted when he and Delbert wanted to go Treasure Planet came to mind. Course now he was older, but that still didn't mean she wouldn't act the same. Oh well, might as well tell her straight out. "Zoltan also offered me a job. Apparently he doesn't have as many mechanics as he needs and was wondering if I would want to take on as an apprenticeship with his head mechanic." His mother stared at him and he went on before she could say anything. "It would only be for a month, and just working with his mechanics I'll earn five hundred pounds, and then whatever I earn from going on missions." His mother then looked at him wide eyed, along with Delbert and Amelia.

"What do you plan to do?" His mother then asked, seeming to get over her shock.

At this, Jim had to sigh. He still didn't know what he wanted. Part of him really wanted him to take the job. The ideas of having an adventure again and of being back out in space were all fascinating. But then there was also a part of him that reminded him that he didn't want to do what his father had ten years ago. The image of his mother crying at a table in the inn when his father left came back as well. He couldn't do that to his mother, especially not after putting her through the years of his delinquency. "I don't know," he finally said. Morph whimpered and rubbed his cheek in a comforting manner. Jim patted him in reassurance as he felt one of his mother's hands run through his hair.

"Jim, you're eighteen now, you have no idea how proud I am of you. I know when your father left that it was hard on you, but you've grown so much since then. I don't want you to feel like you have to stay because of what you've done in the past. If you want to take on this job then I won't stop you." With that said she kissed him on the forehead and then went about her business with the inn.

Jim wasn't sure what to do or say. He stood there for a moment, knowing that both Delbert and Amelia were waiting to see what his response was going to be before heading back outside. Throughout the rest of day, he kept busy trying to keep his mind from wandering. He fixed up the hole that once held a window to try and keep the warmth of the inn inside till the glass was replaced. He then went and took out the remnants of the tables and chairs to be made into firewood. It wasn't till later that night did he decide to return to thinking about what happened earlier in the day.

So there he was, lying on his bed looking at the ceiling, trying to organize his thoughts. Morph was curled up on his chest, sleeping soundly without a care in the world. Jim wished so much to be like him at that moment. So much had happened to him in the last forty-eight hours that he didn't know what to make of it all. During the day he had thought of what might have happened if he hadn't saved Ashe, but at the time he pushed it in the back of his mind to think of later. Now that he had the time to think it over, he knew that all that happened wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him meeting her. He wasn't blaming Ashe, hell if he hadn't met her then he wouldn't have been offered a job nor know how his mother felt about it. If he felt anything for what she had done it would be gratefulness. This thought just led him back to the matter at hand. Should he take Zoltan up on his offer? Or shouldn't he? His mother wasn't against the idea; she actually seemed to encourage it. But that still didn't mean he would automatically take it either. Even though nothing seemed to happen on Montressor, that didn't mean anything _couldn't_ happen. It was that thought that made him reconsider. So many "what ifs" were running through his head that he lost track of most of them.

But still, he could go and take the job, at least to try it out. That sent waves of excitement through him again. He could actually do the one thing he had been longing for these past three years. A small smile appeared on his face at the thought. He glanced over at his window then. The Space Port was visible, even with some clouds coming in. He could be up there and off on a ship by noon tomorrow. That is, if he took the job. Jim gently picked Morph off of his chest and laid him back down on the other side of his pillow, thankfully without waking the blob up. He then rolled over and went to sleep himself, having made up his mind on what he was going to do.

**A/N: **Well, I most say, after writing this I'm pretty proud of it. I went through some rough spots, reasons why this chapter wasn't released sooner, but I think it was worth it. I would also like to give some credit and thanks to a person that deserves it. When I first came up with this idea, I kind of wasn't sure if I was going to actually write this. I talked about the idea with my boyfriend one night and he encouraged me, much to my surprise, to go through and write it. He offered to edit my work as well, which I'm more than grateful for. My boyfriend has helped me so much with this and not just in editing. He's helped me develop my ideas beyond belief as well as support me through all of this so far. I'm happy to work with him and believe that this fanfic will be a complete success with his help. I'd also like to encourage my viewers to post comments about this, so that both he and I can make this the best that it can be. Thank you in advance.


	4. Chapter 4: The Crew

**A/N**: Thank you all who reviewed the last chapter. It's really encouraging to know that people still like this fanfic. My chapters will be coming out later now, I have a lot of things going on, and the chapters will be getting longer as events progress. I will try my best to get them out on time, I still plan on at least releasing two chapters a month, but I just want everyone to know that the chapters might be more spread out throughout the month.

Falling For You

**Chapter 4: The Crew**

The next day, Jim went about his chores like he normally did. It almost felt like a normal day except for the ever reminder at the back of his mind telling him it wasn't. He had to continually push the reminder away just to focus on what he was doing. He would look at the clock sitting in the dining area occasionally but tore his eyes away once he realized what he was doing. Amelia and Delbert were once again at the inn. They too seemed to be waiting for something to happen. The only person who knew of what was to come once ten o'clock came around was his mother. She went around serving people like she normally did, always in the same cheerful mood.

Ten o'clock soon rolled around and then went. It was soon fifteen minutes past ten and Jim was in the kitchen putting away plates when he heard a knock on the front door to the inn. He quickly finished up what he was doing and went out of the kitchen.

"Why, good morning Mrs. Hawkins. Yer looking lovely on this fine morning," Zoltan exclaimed as Jim watched him take off a rimmed hat in greeting.

"Good morning to you as well, Mr. Ruslan," his mother said as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Please Mrs. Hawkins, call me Zoltan. Oh and I've something for ya. Bring 'em in boys." At that moment two men came in with a table between them. One man looked to be no older than twenty-five. This one was tall but shorter than Zoltan. He had spiky hair that seemed to stand on its own. His eyes were a medium shade of blue but had specs of green around his pupil. The build of his body was similar to that of Zoltan's as well but it seemed like he had slightly less muscle. His clothes though did not seem to be those of a typical spacer but more of a fighter. He wore a zipped up muscle shirt with a collar that went up to his jaw line. He wore long baggy black pants that covered up the majority of his black combat boots. An earring on his left ear lobe could also be seen. The earring looked to be in the shape of a wolf's head.

The other man that was carrying the table in looked completely different than his companion. He looked to be well into his fifties and he looked not much taller than Ashe. This man had gray eyes that seemed to hold a lot of joy within them. His stomach was in the shape of a keg and it seemed to be giving him trouble as he tried to assist the younger man. He had more of the appearance of a mechanic. He wore a denim hat with a short rim in the front and was dotted with small oil stains. A white shirt with a pair of overalls covered the rest of his body and brown work boots covered his feet.

The two men set the table down where it used to be. Jim remembered that it went in the place of the table that crashed onto Ashe. The older man let out a huff while pulling out a handkerchief. He wiped his forehead while looking at the younger man. The younger man rolled his eyes before saying, "Come on Harry, it isn't that heavy."

"Remember lad, I'm not as young as you," the older man said with a chuckle.

"I can tell," the younger replied with a pat on the other mans stomach. The older man grunted and followed the younger one back out the door. Zoltan shook his head but he had a smirk on his face. His mother watched with a shocked look on her face as the two men brought in another table and then the same amount of chairs that had been broken in yesterdays brawl.

"Zoltan, you didn't-" his mother started to say but was cut off by Zoltan.

"Mrs. Hawkins, please it's the least I can do. Angel also insisted that it be done. She felt bad for destroying yer inn." Just then there was a ripping noise coming from the other side of the dining area. Everyone turned and watched as the tarp that Jim had put over the hole was taken down. The two men then lifted up a piece of glass and started to fit it into place. Once it was fixed, the men reentered the inn and waited by the doorway for Zoltan to be finished.

His mother sighed with a smile on her face. "Thank you Zoltan."

"Me pleasure Mrs. Hawkins," he said with a bow. He then straightened and gave a smile to Jim as he made his way over. "Give any thought to me offer lad?" It was then that Charge decided to come out. He formed into his hawk form and sat on Jim's shoulder. He chirped a greeting and then started to rub his head against his cheek. The soothing warmth that Jim felt the day before came back as he petted the flame's neck.

"Yeah I have," Jim said as he looked up at Zoltan. Zoltan then raised one of his eyebrows and waited for his answer. "And I think I'll take you up on it."

Zoltan let out a roar of laughter. Charge lifted himself off of Jim's shoulder and flew around Jim to show off his own joy. Zoltan then turned around to the other two men and waved them over, one in particular. "Cloud! Come over here, lad." The young blonde walked over with a confused look in his eyes. Once he was standing next to Zoltan, Zoltan put an arm around his shoulders. "Jim, I'd like ya to meet Cloud. He's the second in-command mechanic on me ship. Cloud, this is the lad I was telling ya about."

Cloud looked at Jim and then at Zoltan. It was hard to read his expression. Before, confusion could be seen in his eyes, but now he either wasn't confused like before or he was hiding it extremely well. "Sir, what are you getting at," Cloud said in an even voice.

"You're going to be the lad's tutor," Zoltan said with a smirk. Cloud's face finally showed emotion. He paled as he once again looked at Jim and then at Zoltan.

"Sir, I thought Milo was going to be his tutor."

Zoltan sighed, his smirk vanishing. "Cloud, Milo is getting up in years. I have a feeling that he won't be with us long. That would mean that ya become the new head mechanic and as of right now, I don't think any of the others are ready to take on the position of second. But Jim here, if he decides to stay with us after his month is up, I fully believe he has what it takes to fill that role." Jim felt an odd sense of pride when he heard Zoltan say that. He felt himself straighten slightly as he looked at Cloud. Cloud glanced over at him before darting back to Zoltan. He seemed to be rolling over what Zoltan had said. "Also, we need to get more people skills into ya." At this Cloud frowned and sent a small glare at Zoltan.

"Alright, I'll do it, but I would expect you to also tell Boss that he is to tutor him as well," Cloud said. He then eyed Jim up and down before walking out the inn without waiting for a response from Zoltan.

Another sigh escaped from Zoltan as he folded his arms over his chest. The shorter man looked at Zoltan, shrugged, and then followed Cloud out of sight. "Don't let his words get to ya," Zoltan said getting Jim's attention. "He's been through a lot for someone his age, and well, he has trouble opening up if ya get what I mean." Jim just nodded as he looked once more at the door. "Go and get yer stuff, those two want to get back as soon as possible and I'd hate to keep Spiky waiting long in the mood I've most likely just put him in." Jim nodded once again before going up to his room to get his stuff. He packed only the things he needed into a drawstring bag. Morph floated about him excitedly at the prospect of going somewhere new. Charge had decided to follow him as well and was now perched on the back of his desk chair. The hawk watched with interest as Jim went about his room getting various things. Once Jim declared himself done, he put his jacket on, threw his bag over his shoulder and left his room. His two companions flew about him, letting out cries of excitement to each other.

"I'm glad I could please ya, Doc," Zoltan said as Jim was at the foot of the stairs leading to the dining area. Zoltan was now over by Delbert and Amelia. Delbert had a large stack of papers in his hands that he quickly flipped through. Amelia sipped her tea with a mix between satisfaction and dislike on her face. Zoltan stood with a smile on his face as he watched Delbert. All three adults looked up as he entered the room. He was about to ask where his mother was when she quickly entered the room.

"Ok, I think I have everything for you," she said as she walked over to him. In her hand was a small pouch and he could hear the jingling of coins from within it. "I've already given Zoltan any papers you'll need. Here is some money. I believe it will be enough-" but Jim cut her off.

"Mom, I'll be fine," he said in reassurance.

"Aye, Mrs. Hawkins," Zoltan said as he walked up to stand next to Jim. He placed a firm hand on Jim's shoulders as he looked at his mother with a smile still on his face. "The lad is in very good hands. He might seem a bit cold, but Cloud is one of me most trustworthy crewmembers. Jim will also be with me son and Angel for most of the time. Me son is very protective when it comes to his friends and I already can tell the two will be fast friends."

His mother sighed but nodded all the same. "Just try and stay out of trouble, alright?" his mother said looking at him, a faint smile on her lips.

"Don't worry, I will," he said and then hugged her. She returned it and once they parted a full smile was on her face. He waved good-bye to Delbert and Amelia, who returned the gesture, before exiting the inn. He glanced back to see that all three were standing in the doorway, still waving. Morph chirped "good-bye" as he sat on Jim's shoulder.

"Not sure how much trouble ya'll be out of, to be honest," Zoltan said with a chuckle. "The group ya'll be with just seems to attract it wherever they go." With that, they climbed into the long boat. Cloud was at the controls and once he saw that they were settled, took off in the direction of the Space Port.

"Wow," Jim breathed out as he looked up at the ship. The Wolf Star, which Zoltan explained was a standard ship for any C.G., was much bigger than Jim had thought. It was at least twice the size of the R.S.L. Legacy. He now understood why it took a large mechanic crew to keep it running properly. The ship had three main sails and almost seemed more like a very large merchant ship than a ship for a police force. Jim watched as men went about amongst the rigging to get the ship ready for take off. Men on deck could be seen moving barrels and carts about. Two men, one in a long boat and another on deck, were tossing barrels onto the ship. Both men stopped what they were doing and waved in greeting as they passed, which Zoltan and Harry returned. Then the noise coming from the ship could be heard as they drew closer. Orders being told, questions being asked, and the merry tone of singing were just a few of the things Jim heard as Cloud drew the longboat level with the main ship's deck.

Zoltan jumped off of the long boat onto the deck with gracility that surprised Jim due to Zoltan's size. Jim soon followed him with both Morph and Charge calling out cheerfully, seeming to be affected by the noise coming from the ship. "Come on, I got business to take care of, but I'll have me son show you around," Zoltan said over his shoulder to Jim.

"Hey!" Jim turned just in time to catch his bag as Cloud tossed it to him. Cloud was now standing with Harry at the controls. "Once Leon is done showing you around, tell him to take you down to the Hollows." And with that said, Cloud signaled for Harry to take off and they were soon out of sight.

"The Hollows?" Jim asked as he repositioned his bag on his shoulder.

"It's what the crew calls the engine room," Zoltan explained as they walked about the deck, Zoltan looking around. "The Cave is where the long boats are stored. I'd also be sure to get everyone's nicknames down, almost everyone on the ship has one and people like using them more than their actual name. Ye'll pick up the lingo soon enough." Jim nodded as he walked behind Zoltan, looking around with awe.

When he was in the long boat, he thought that everyone that was working about was all men but he was surprised to see women amongst them. There were at least two carrying barrels below deck. Some were scattered about in the riggings as well. But one woman, or girl since she looked to be about his age, caught his eye. She was standing up by the wheel of the boat and was standing with her arms crossed behind her back. She had long white hair that went to the middle of her back. A blood red scarf created a headband on the top of her head to hold her bangs back. Her eyes had a very light shade of blue that made them seem like they were made out of ice. Her light tan skin shone in the sunlight as she overlooked the crew works with a stern look. The girl's clothing also looked like that of an officer of some sort. She wore a light black jacket whose sleeves went to her elbows and had at least two straps on her shoulders. Underneath that she wore a dark red shirt whose sleeves went slightly passed that of her jacket's sleeves and it looked to be a little baggy but still showed off the curves of her torso. Military issued light black pants covered her legs and black military boots covered her feet.

Zoltan let out a huff, getting Jim's attention away from the girl. Zoltan then looked over at the girl Jim had been looking at and called out to her. "Oi! Snow, ya haven't seen Leon have ya?"

The girl turned and looked at him with a slight surprised expression on her face. She then looked around for a quick moment before looking up at the rigging. "He's up there, helping Zarrick, sir," she said in a voice that seemed to express authority. Both Jim and Zoltan then looked up to see where she was looking. Sitting on one of the main sails was a well-muscled boy. He had similar spiky hair like Zoltan but his was jet black. He had pale skin just like his father and it could be seen well due to the fact that he had no shirt on. Sitting close to him, and seeming to be talking to him, was another boy. This one had jet-black hair as well but it was shaggier looking and seemed to stop half way down his neck. Muscle could also be seen, due to the fact that he didn't have a shirt on as well, but he wasn't as well built as his friend. Sweat could be seen on his pale skin but it didn't seem to bother him.

"Thanks Nieve," Zoltan said before walking over to the rigging where his son was. "Oi, Leon, ye need to get down here! I got a job for ya to do for me."

The spiky haired teen looked down at Zoltan before jumping off of the rigging. Jim was surprised that the fall, which was a decent height, didn't even to seem to affect the other boy. The boy then grabbed a white shirt that was hanging off of a barrel and pulled it on as he came over.

"What is it, Pop," the boy said once he was in front of Zoltan. Closer up, the similarities between the two were astounding. The two had similar face structure and shared the same eye color. Leon, though, looked like he was going to be shorter than his father by only an inch or two once he was fully-grown.

"Boy, this is Jim, Jim this is me son Leon. He'll be the one to show ya around and the one ya'll listen to when ya go on a mission. If ya need anything, just ask him and he will help. I think ya can do that for me boy?"

"Yeah, yeah," Leon said sighing, but with a smirk on his face. "By the way Pop, I'm beginning not to trust Nieve; she's been working everyone like dogs since you left."

Zoltan laughed, "I trust Snow, but it's me ship and I want to make sure everything is to me liking. Spiky wants him down in the Hollows once yer down showing him around. But if ya want, Jim, ya can watch the launch, up to ya to decide." And with that said Zoltan walked off towards a door under the wheel with a wave. Charge chirped a "good bye" and followed his master.

"So," Leon said with a smirk, as he looked Jim up and down. "You're the new guy, huh?"

"Guess so," Jim said with a shrug.

Leon then let out a laugh as he clapped Jim on the shoulder. "Welcome aboard! Come on, Pop told me to show you around and if you're to be in the Hollows shortly after take off then we better get started."

They then started across the deck to the door that Zoltan had passed through only minutes ago. Jim glanced up at the girl still standing by the wheel. She watched him and Leon for a bit before going back to watching the rest of the crew work.

"That's Nieve," Leon sad as they went through the door. "Or Snow if you want to go by nicknames. Anyway, she's the first mate since Pop's last one retired. He's training her now for, what he says, when I take over the ship."

"Is she always that…stiff?"

"Naw, she might come across mean but she's nice. You just got to read between the lines, so to speak." Jim nodded as he took in their new surroundings. The hall was well lit by overhanging lamps. The walls and ceiling were painted a sky blue that reflected the light from the lamps to make it seem like they were actually outside with a clear sky with a sun. The light that that was reflected, however, then appeared to be lost when it hit the dark blue carpet. Wood doors dotted the walls every few feet as they walked farther down the hall.

"First floor below deck is the sleeping quarter. The infirmary is also on this floor. I got to introduce you to the Doc and then you can drop off your stuff. You'll be bunking with Zarrick, who you'll meet later, and me." Jim nodded as they turned a corner. At the end of the hall, Jim noticed a neon sign with the red medical cross on it.

* * *

"I swear you get hurt more while on pleasure cruises than on missions." Ashe let out a soft snort as she buried her chin a little deeper into her folded arms. She let her eyes linger on her companion for a moment before looking away. She shifted a little from where she laid on her stomach. A slight pain went through her then, which she winced at, as she pushed her stomach a little too hard into the medical bed which she was laying on. "Stop moving. You'll only make it worse and I highly doubt you want to be in here longer."

Ashe turned her head back to look at her criticizer. A woman in her mid thirties stood at a counter, preparing something that Ashe couldn't see. The woman had light blonde hair; but too dark to be considered platinum, that she wore in pig tails that started right behind her ears. Her eyes were the same dark blue as the darkest shape of her eyes reminded Ashe of a cat. She wore a white lab coat that went down just to above her knees. Underneath the coat, Ashe remembered seeing her with a dark blue blouse and a black skirt that stopped just before the end of her lab coat on. She wore black high-heels that gave her at least another inch or two in height. Ashe had to marvel at the other woman though. The older woman gave off the vibe that she was not one to cross at any time. It was because of that vibe that Ashe was obedient at the moment.

Ashe hated doctor offices, plain and simple. The woman in the room with her now soothed this feeling for the moment though. Ashe had known her for the past ten years. But that didn't mean she couldn't put up some sort of resistance to any treatments she got. Ashe really didn't know where her dislike came from either. She could handle being healed by mana manipulation; hell she actually enjoyed it and preferred it. But put her in a room with medical supplies and a person in a lab coat that she only just met, and there was bound to be trouble. It didn't even matter what kind of medical supplies either. It could a simple machine to monitor her heart rate and she would do anything in that moment not to have it attached to her.

'Course, the only reason why I'm not protesting now is the fact that Marron threatened to take me off the mission if I did,' Ashe thought bitterly. When she and Zoltan had returned to the ship the other day, she had discovered that she was injured a lot more than she previously thought. She had developed a fantastic bruise on her back from crashing into table and then having it land on her. It hurt to bend over, which was apparent when she bent over to pick up something only to have pain go through her back. Other bruises dotted her body, but they were gone by the morning. Marron had scolded her for being so careless, and wanted to take her off of the mission because she said that both of her major injures could get worse. But Ashe had pleaded with her not to. In the end, Marron had agreed to let Ashe go on the mission, but only if Ashe promised to continually come to her for treatment and that Ashe would be careful as to not upset the bruises. Ashe promised, and that was what led her to the Infirmary at this moment.

"All right, sit up and take your shirt off," Marron said as she walked over to Ashe. Ashe let out a sigh and sat up slowly, trying not to think of the pain shooting through her back. Of course that was easier said then done. Ashe hissed in pain as she was finally sitting up and started to take off her shirt, which Marron helped her with. "Bra off too." Ashe glared at her but complied. The bruise on her back went all the way up to between her shoulder blades. Ashe shivered as she felt one of Marron's hands start to rub some kind of lotion on her back. She looked down at the bottle that Marron had placed next to her. "Don't worry; this is just to help reduce the bruising. You're going need to have either Nieve or Selphy put this on for you while on the mission." Ashe nodded numbly as she sat there. She didn't want to think about how she was going to be feeling on the mission. She wasn't feeling that great at the moment and she knew that she wouldn't be feeling much better in a few days.

'Looks like I'm going to have to jack up on pain killers, great,' Ashe thought. She wasn't going to be in a good mood at all during this trip and that upset her more. When she was upset, she almost always hurt someone else, be it feelings or physically. She would normally go to the gym to vent it all out, but with two large bruises on her torso that was out of the question. Her only saving grace was that it took a lot to get her angry. 'Guess locking myself up in my room is going to be my best bet.'

As she was thinking of things to do during her self-imposed isolation, an unwarranted surprise happened to enter the room.

"Hey Doc, I brought the new guy like you asked," Leon said as he entered the room. Ashe stared at him wide eyed as Leon looked at her, with a similar expression on his face. Over his shoulder Ashe could see Jim also staring at her and she could see a faint blush start to form on both boys cheeks. Thankfully though, she got over her shock only to replace it with anger and embarrassment.

"Leon, get the fuck out," she yelled as she covered her chest the best way she could. Marron quickly got up as well and started to walk towards the door. Leon quickly did as he was told and shut the door. Marron stopped in her tracks and ran a hand through her bangs with a sigh. Ashe sat there looking at the door, not daring to move. She could feel her cheeks heating up as she continued to stare.

"Let's finish you up," Marron said turning to her. "I had expected them to come before I treated you, but just like Zoltan, he must have picked the boy up later than he said." Ashe nodded and allowed Marron to rub the lotion on the rest of her back and stomach. Once the lotion was done, she then wrapped Ashe's torso up in bandages. Ashe then got her bra and black t-shirt back on as quickly as she could; ignoring the large amount of pain running through her as she did so. She then curled her legs up to her stomach and wrapped her arms around them as she rested her forehead on her knees. Marron, who had gone to the door while Ashe redressed, glanced back at the teen before opening the door. "You two can come in now." Marron then walked over to the counter and started to take out different bottles of medication as Leon and Jim reentered the room.

"Ashe I'm really-" Leon started to say but stopped when Ashe lifted a hand to indicate that she didn't want him to talk.

"Let me calm down first before you say anything," came the muffled reply from Ashe. If it was one thing she didn't want to do, it was make Leon feel bad. She looked at Leon like a brother and for that she knew she really wasn't that mad at him. She understood that he made a simple mistake but the embarrassment was overwhelming. For one, Leon hadn't been the only one to see her half nakedness. If it wasn't for that fact then Ashe knew she would be over the whole situation because it was, well, Leon. But since Jim was there it made it harder for the embarrassment to fade away. She only knew him, for what, almost two full days and yet he saw more of her body than was legally allowed in public. Granted, one situation she brought onto herself but this one just popped out right at her without warning. The second thing that made it hard for the embarrassment to be let go was what might happen later on in the day. Rumors within the crew spread like wildfire if the people found out what happened. That made it hard for any sort of secrets to be kept. Also the fact that teasing another member for an embarrassing act wasn't uncommon. The teasing was what she was really worried about. Nieve lived off of it, especially when it came to teasing Ashe, and this would just give her more ammunition for later. Ashe also knew that at that moment her temper was on the tip of going off. She didn't want to be angry but if she wasn't allowed the time to calm down she knew she would lash out at the first person to talk to her. But as hard as it was for her at that moment, she knew that she had to let it all go. She took in quiet deep breaths as she heard the other three people within the room.

"So you're the new guy."

"Yes, ma'am," Jim said taking his eyes off of Ashe to look at Marron.

"Zoltan gave me your latest medical records," Marron said, bringing Ashe out of her thoughts. "I would still like to give you a check up myself. And you might need to get a few injections, but those can be saved for later." Ashe then heard the clicking of Marron's high-heels on the floor and lifted her head to see what she was doing. In her hands she held two cups, one small clear cup with three different pills in it and another baby blue plastic one that appeared to have water in it. After making her way over to Ashe, she handed both cups to Ashe, who frowned down at the pills once the cups were in her hands. "Well Leon, it looks like you'll only be having a team of five once we get to Zealand." Ashe's eyes darted up to Marron then. Marron continued to watch her with a neutral look on her face. Ashe let out a grunt before downing the pills and then the water shortly after. "Now was that so hard to do?" Ashe let out another grunt as she stood up from the bed. Marron rolled her eyes before turning back to Jim. "Come by tomorrow morning before you go down to the Hollows."

"Yes ma'am," Jim said once again before following Leon out of the room. Ashe followed behind him and shut the door behind her. She let out a sigh and looked up. Leon stood in front of her, a worried look on his face. He seemed to want to say something to her but resisted the urge to.

Ashe ran a hand through her hair before saying, "I'm not mad at you and I'm sorry for yelling. You know how I am around doctors and you caught me off guard when you came in. But I do want you to promise me that you won't tell anyone what happened, especially Nieve. It's bad enough she is still teasing me for getting caught by those pirates, I don't need to hear her go on about this as well."

Leon's face cracked into a smile as he pulled Ashe in for a hug. Ashe was grateful that he was mindful of the bruise on her back. Leon ruffled her hair as he smirked at her. "You got it Ashe." Ashe nodded before walking down the hall towards her room. "Where are you going?"

"To my room," she called back without looking over her shoulder. And with that said, she entered a room half way down the hall and was out of sight.

* * *

Jim watched quietly as he watched the two interact. Even without knowing anything about their relationship, it was apparent that the two were close. Ashe had seemed to be on the brink of snapping out at Leon in anger but when they exited the infirmary she was completely calm.

"Well, this is interesting." Jim jumped as he heard a voice next to him. He turned to see Nieve stand there. She had a smile that seemed to yell mischief, and what could be considered an evil glint in her eyes. Jim couldn't help but notice that she was only a few inches shorter than him. Nieve then turned and looked at him. Her smile widened when she seemed to have noticed him. "Oh, hello. New guy right?"

"What are you doing down here Nieve?" Leon said, cutting Jim off from replying. Nieve then turned to Leon, the mischievous look back on her face.

"Captain wanted me to check up on Ashe. So what happened between the two of you?"

"None of your business, slave driver," Leon said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Nieve rolled her eyes at him as she mimicked the move. "Great nickname metal-head. You do realize that either way I'm going to find out, right?" Leon snorted out his reply. Nieve shrugged and walked past him; seeming to be heading towards the room Ashe had entered.

"She won't tell you."

"Yeah, yeah. Why don't you get back to the little task that you were given? Or is it too hard for a metal brain like you?" With that she too entered the room and left Jim with a slightly miffed Leon.

"Come on, the bedroom is down here and then I'll finish showing you around." Jim nodded since he got the feeling that talking to Leon at that moment wasn't the greatest idea.

The bedroom that Leon led him into was fairly large. Jim couldn't help but also notice that the room sat right next to the one that Ashe and Nieve were currently in. A bunk bed sat against the wall on one side and a single bed sat opposite it. A closet took up another wall. Three dressers sat under a window that overlooked the Space Port. There was another door that Jim guessed lead to a bathroom of sorts.

"You get the top bunk," Leon said sitting down on the bottom bunk. "This is my bunk and Zarrick has the single bed. The dresser on the far right is yours and there should be room in the closest for some of your stuff." Jim nodded as he started to unpack. Leon fell onto his bed and put his hands over his face. Jim watched him out of the corner of his eye. Morph seemed to take interest in what the other teen was doing. He floated around Leon as he watched him. All of a sudden there was a thunk on the wall right behind Leon's head. Both boys looked at the wall as the soft murmuring of yelling could be heard. Leon rolled his eyes as he sat up. "Looks like Nieve has started teasing her again."

"Do they always act like that?" Jim asked trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, Ashe is one of Nieve's favorite people to tease. Zarrick is another favorite target for her but not for teasing. Zarrick has a weird habit and Nieve takes it upon herself to scold him for it."

"What kind of habit?"

"Not that you won't see it later but I guess it's a good forewarning. Zarrick can't help but take his clothes off in public sometimes. It's something he got from his dad. Hell, he doesn't even know he does it most of the time." Jim looked at Leon with wide eyes. He had gotten the feeling from Ashe that this crew was a bit out of the ordinary but that was one thing he hadn't expected. Leon gave him a sheepish smile. "Didn't expect that huh? Well, let me give you some advice. Anything you thought was normal, you might as well throw all of that away. I guarantee you that even after your month on this ship; you won't be looking at the world the same again."

"I'll take your word for it," Jim muttered as he went back to unpacking. Leon laughed. They fell into silence again before Leon asked him a question.

"Hey, how much fighting experience do you have?"

"Depends on what you mean by experience. I fought a crew of pirates before and I know how to use a gun fairly well. But other than that, not much."

"That could be a problem," Leon said while rubbing his chin in thought. "We tend to get into fights while on missions. It might be a good idea to get you a teacher for at least some hand-to-hand combat stuff. I'd be willing to teach you but I know there are far better people on this ship that are better fighters than me."

"Does everyone on this ship know how to fight?"

"Almost everyone, a good chunk know how to use magic and then the rest are good in other aspects of fighting. Cloud, for instance, is deadly with or without a sword. Give him a broadsword or a claymore, and you'd be lucky to live for the next five seconds. He's also decent with hand-to-hand combat." Jim filed that information away in his memory. He hoped that it might become helpful when he was around the stoic young man. He straighten up, deeming himself done with unpacking. Leon got up as well and patted Morph as the blob settled on his shoulder. "Alright let me finish showing you around. The launch should be happening soon." As they exited the room, the yelling from the room next to them could be heard louder than before. Jim glanced at the wall as he could make out Ashe's voice raise in volume as they walked away from the room.

The rest of the tour flew by to Jim. The floor below the sleeping quarter was the dining quarter. Leon didn't go into detail about the floor since he said that it would be best to do that during dinner later on that day. The floor after that was the relation quarter, where Leon explained that the crew came in the free time. A gym and a large lounge took up the floor. Below that was the Hollows and Cave. Leon told him that he could go to any floor via an elevator. Even with knowing that, Jim got the feeling that no matter what he was going to get lost.

"Would all crew members please report to the deck," came a female voice over an intercom. "The launch is about to begin. Repeat, would all crew members please report to the deck."

"It's about time," Leon muttered as him and Jim made their way to the deck. If Jim thought the crew amazed him when he first came onto the ship, it was nothing compared to how they were now. Men and women alike jumped around in the rigging as if performing a dance. It seemed that as one person finished off untying part of a sail, another was there to help assist them do another. But there was also an odd feeling about the deck. Whenever they had the chance, members of the crew would stop and stare at him before going back to their work. It gave him a slightly uncomfortable feeling and he fidgeted slightly from where he stood. Morph seemed to have noticed his master's discomfort. He floated off of Leon's shoulder and settled back on Jim's. He rubbed himself against Jim's cheek as if to say, "It's alright, I'm here". This little action raised a soft chuckle from Jim.

Soon the ship started to float away from the dock where it had sat at by the Space Port. The sails seemed to reach out towards space as they took in the solar energy. A surge of excitement went through him at that moment when he realized that the gravity of the Space Port had vanished and he was currently floating on deck. Soon the artificial gravity kicked in and he landed cat-like back onto the deck. The sound of the engines starting up came next, then the feel of the ship blasting off. The feeling of the solar wind hitting his face brought back memories of the Treasure Planet. The knowledge that a new adventure was coming sent a thrill through him.

Leon chuckled next to him. "You better get down to the Hollows. Don't want to make Cloud anymore upset then he probably is. I'll come and get you for dinner." With that said, he trotted off for the sail he was on before. Jim took a final surveillance of the deck before going back down below deck to start on his new job.

**A/N**: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I had to redo this chapter a lot but I'm happy with how it turned out. The next chapter should be out soon. R&R please.


	5. Chapter 5: Mission a Go

**A/N**: Another chapter down. I'm planning on creating an OC bio sheet soon, to help keep track of all major OCs. I plan on updating them as the story progresses, to show how each OC develops. R&R

**Falling For You**

Chapter 5: Mission a Go

Morph zoomed about the hall as Jim walked to a door at the end. This part of the ship looked completely different than the rest of it. Lights littered the ceiling and gave off an orange glow. Red was the main color of the room it seemed. The door that he was walking towards seemed to be made of a similar metal as the floor. Just as he was only a few feet away from the door, it opened to reveal Cloud. Cloud walked out and looked up to notice Jim.

"I was wondering where you were," he said as he walked over. Once again Jim couldn't read Cloud's expression, so it was hard to tell if he was being scolded or not. He decided to think he was being scolded seeing how he figured Cloud was still slightly upset that he had to play tutor.

"Sorry, I got a little lost," he explained. It wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the full truth either. He had found the floor easily but once he was on it he couldn't remember where to go. Cloud looked at him before turning around and heading back towards the door. Jim followed close behind him. When he passed through the door he was amazed by what he saw. The room they had entered was large. There was no difference between this room and the hallway when it came to color and lighting, but pipes ran the length of the room and vanished into the wall in various places. A catwalk ran the length of the room to allow people to look and check various knobs and gauges that were on the walls. The sound of machines running filled the room, and the faint smell of oil could also be detected within the room. People were walking about the various machines as Jim watched them from the catwalk. Cloud then started to walk down the stairs that were right next to where they were. Jim quickly followed him.

"You'll come down here after breakfast each morning," Cloud explained as they continued down. "You'll either report to me or Boss. For the first few days you'll follow either of us around to learn about each machine down here, but after that you'll be expected to do any task that Boss or I give you. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Jim said trying not to get the older male angrier at him then he possibly was already. Cloud nodded in acceptance before looking around the room.

"Tori!" Cloud called out as he stood looking slightly miffed.

"What!" came a feminine reply.

"Get over here!"

"What the hell Spiky," said a short female as she came into view. Long black hair tied up in a rubber band to form a ponytail fell into her tanned face. Storm gray eyes glared at Cloud as she put her gloved hands on her hips. A denim hat sitting backwards on her head was not doing that great of a job keeping hair from falling into her eyes. She wore dark blue overalls with a white tank top underneath. Dark brown work boots could be seen peeking out underneath her overalls. "Are you trying to get me kicked off of the crew?"

"Would I have to listen to you complain if I said yes?" Cloud asked as his face went back to its neutral expression. Tori's glare at him seemed to increase as she stood there. "Have you seen Boss?"

"He's working on Bertha." She then seemed to notice Jim and her glare was immediately replaced with a look of curiosity. Jim had a feeling that he was going to be seeing that look a lot for the next few days.

Cloud sighed. "Tori this is Jim Hawkins, Jim this is Tori, or as we like to call her, Grease Monkey." At that Tori punched Cloud in the arm. Cloud looked at her and then walked off. Tori rolled her eyes before trotting off to catch up to him with Jim next to her.

"So how has it been for ya so far?" Tori asked as they walked behind Cloud.

"Alright, I have a feeling that I'm going to get lost a few times though."

"Don't worry, even people that have been here awhile get lost every now and then," Tori giggled. They soon came to the largest machine in the room. It took up a large amount of the corner it sat in and went all the way up to the ceiling. The catwalk wrapped around the machine so people could reach higher up on it.

"What's this machine for?" Jim asked.

"Bertha here monitors everything that is going on with the ship," came the reply from somewhere on the other side of the machine. Then a figure appeared in front of them. A light blue Bangaa with milk white spots came into view. He looked old, even to Jim. On his muzzle he had an unusual pair of glasses. They had large lenses and they seemed to increase the size of his eyes. The Bangaa walked over to Jim and looked at him. Jim noticed the Bangaa move a switch on his glasses and watched as the Bangaa's eye size increased even more in the glass. "So you're the new lad that Zoltan said he found me."

"This is Jim Hawkins, Boss," Cloud said as he leaned against Bertha.

"Name's Milo; or Boss if you ask these lads," the Bangaa said as he stuck out his hand for a shake.

"Hey!" Tori said defensively.

"You told him everything Cloud?" Milo asked, as he seemed to ignore the fuming Tori.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Come here lad, might as well get you started on Bertha. Without her, this ship couldn't even run its radar. You two go back to whatever you were doing." And with that, both Cloud and Tori walked away. It seemed to Jim as they left that they probably were going to get into another argument. "It's best not to get involved with them when they argue. Come on, Bertha is starting to act up and I could use another pair of hands with it." Time seemed to fly by to Jim as he helped Milo. The Bangaa might have been old, but it seemed he knew everything about the machine. He was also a fantastic teacher. He had Jim hand him various tools as he explained what each part did or what he was doing. He even gave Jim the chance to try out fixing up various parts. Milo would tell him what to do and watched as he did it, giving advice when needed.

"Heh, don't you look like you're having fun." Jim looked over his shoulder to see Leon standing over him with a smirk on his face.

"Ah, Leon. Haven't seen you in awhile," Milo said as he stood up.

"Hey Milo, I just came to get Jim here for dinner."

"Is it that time already? Bah, I still got work to do. Jim, you go and have dinner, I'll continue on down here."

"You sure sir?" Jim asked as he stood up from where he sat.

"Yeah, go on. Thanks to you I actually got more done then I expected. Oh and don't call me sir, that's meant for Zoltan, not me. Boss or Milo is fine. Get on now, the both of you." Leon jerked his head towards the door and Jim followed, but not without glancing back at the Bangaa. Milo was once again sitting down on the ground, continuing his work.

"Don't worry about him; he won't be kicking the bucket anytime soon, even if Pop wants him to retire soon." They then walked silently towards the elevator and headed up towards the dining quarter. Once they got to the mess hall they were greeted by the loud noise of people talking. Leon hadn't been kidding when he said that the crew was large. Jim hadn't realized it when he was on deck but now that they were all in one single space it was hard not to notice. He could make out the various faces of the mechanic crew he had met as he helped Milo. They were all too focused on eating to notice Jim. Jim followed Leon to the other side of the mess hall. All the while he felt eyes on him. Leon glanced back at him and gave a reassuring smirk as they reached a table.

Sitting at the table were two teens, one Jim recognized as the boy that was talking to Leon when he first got on the ship. Across from the other boy sat a girl that looked to be the same age. Jim was slightly shocked when he realized that the boy and girl looked identical, minus the different genders. The girl had shaggy looking hair that went more than half way down her back. About five inches from the end of it was a rubber band that held it all together. She had the same pale skin and blue eyes as her counterpart. The only thing that Jim could tell that was different between the two was that the girl seemed a little perkier. The boy looked somewhat bored as he leaned on an arm that was on the table. He still had his shirt off and was looking lazily around the room, not seeming to have noticed Jim or Leon. The girl on the other hand seemed a little more excited. She looked up and smiled as the two boys stood there.

Leon opened his mouth to get the attention of the two teens but he was beaten to it. Once again, out of nowhere, Nieve appeared. But this time, interacting with Jim didn't seem to be her goal. She had a nasty look on her face as she glared at the back of the bored looking boy's head. She then punched him in the side of the head as she let out a growl.

"What the hell is your problem Nieve!" the other boy yelled as he turned around to look at her.

Nieve's glare didn't falter as she let out another growl. "How many times have I told to keep your damn clothes on, especially while in the mess hall. Everyone doesn't need to see your damn body you know."

"And everyone doesn't need your bitch of an attitude either," the boy muttered.

Nieve's glare hardened and it seemed like she would have continued the argument if Leon hadn't stepped in to play peacemaker. "Hey, cut it out you two. Nieve, you know he can't help it sometimes. Zarrick try not to undress in public." Both teens grunted and Nieve took a seat next to the other girl. The other girl looked at Leon and gave a sheepish smile. Her smile was then focused on Jim as she seemed to notice him.

"Oh, you must be the new guy. I'm Selphy and this is my twin brother Zarrick," the girl said. Zarrick grunted a hello as he looked around for what Jim guessed was his shirt. Nieve sent another glare at Zarrick, who returned it once he found his shirt. Leon kicked one of the legs of Zarrick's chair, getting the other boys attention.

"This is Jim. He's our new roommate," Leon said evenly.

"Nice to meet ya," Zarrick said after pulling his shirt on. Leon then took a seat next to him and motioned for Jim to sit down. Right after Jim sat down, another person came to the table.

"Don't tell me: Nieve and Zar got into another fight," Ashe said as she placed a basket on the table. Selphy got up immediately and tackle hugged Ashe. Ashe got a look of pain on her face as Selphy's arms went around her waist. She looked like she was going to fall over but Jim, being the closest to her at the time, managed to catch her hand and steady her before she could. She smiled thankfully at him and then put her full attention on the person clinging to her. "Selphy, could you please let me go."

"Oh, sorry, it's just I haven't seen you all day," Selphy said with a pout. Ashe rolled her eyes as her smile grew slightly.

"I've missed you too," she said as she managed to get Selphy's arms off of her. Selphy's smile returned as she went back to her seat. Nieve shook her head but a small smile could be seen on her face as well. Ashe and Jim then turned and watched Leon have a tug-of-war match with Morph over a piece of bread that Leon had tried to take from the basket that Ashe had put down. "Leon you do know that there is more bread in the basket, right?"

"Yeah, but I had this one first," he explained as he gave a little tug on the bread only to have Morph tug it back. Ashe let out a sigh as she then turned once again to Jim.

"He didn't explain how meals worked around here, did he?"

"No, he didn't," Jim replied, causing Ashe to send a scolding look at the spiky haired teen. Said teen beamed in triumph has he got the piece of bread out of Morph's mouth. Leon then looked up at Ashe with a sheepish smile, which caused her to roll her eyes.

"Well, it works the same way as a restaurant, just without any menus. You can order whatever you want but if you want seconds you have to go to the kitchen and get it yourself."

"I'd let Ashe pick your dinner for you," Leon volunteered as he tore apart the bread. "Whatever she makes is always good."

"Suck up," Ashe muttered.

"That's fine by me," Jim said with a shrug. Ashe gave a nod and walked off. It didn't take her long to get back, and when she did, she was pushing a large cart with various dishes of food on it. She passed them out to everyone, Leon getting the largest plate out of any of them, before disappearing again. Jim watched Leon for a moment, as he seemed to attack the food in front of him.

"And you say I have a problem," Zarrick muttered which landed him another kick to his chair. Nieve shook her head at the antics of the two before eating her own meal. Ashe took a seat next to her and across from Jim. Morph, after seeming to have come to the conclusion that he wasn't getting anything from Leon, floated over to Ashe to look at her meal. Ashe smiled at the blob as she then picked up her fork and offered what looked to be some kind of noodles to Morph. Morph immediately ate the food offered to him and let out a small burp acknowledging satisfaction. Ashe then proceeded to eat her meal while every now and then offering some to morph. It was then that Jim took notice to his own meal. As he started to eat, the others seemed to get more comfortable and started to talk.

"So what's our next mission," Zarrick said as has a pushed Leon a little to get his attention.

"It appears as though a town is having a problem with their children going missing," Leon said around a mouth full of food.

"We talking run away missing or the spirited away kind," Ashe asked as she too took interest.

"The townspeople aren't sure," Nieve answered. "All the kids that have gone missing have had no problems at home or within the town. There is also nothing near the town that could be the cause of them being spirited away."

"So it's a town wide kid-napping," Ashe growled as she frowned.

Nieve nodded before going on, "The kids have been disappearing for at least three months now. The townspeople have tried everything to try and keep them safe, but no matter what the kids go missing."

"How many are missing?" Jim asked getting interested on the subject as well. By what he got from Zoltan and Leon it sounded like he was going to be a part of the group for a mission as well.

"Twenty-four, maybe more." All but Leon stared at Nieve wide eyed.

"And they don't know why," Zarrick said sounding disbelieving.

Leon nodded as he finally seemed to slow down on eating. "It's a small town. As the mayor of the town told the Core, the town is just like one huge family. So knowing that so many children have vanished within those three months is really heart breaking to them."

"Is that a surprise?" Jim heard Ashe mutter. He had to agree with her. Twenty-four children vanishing without a trace is a big deal; especially when there seemed to be no cause for it. He also got the impression that the subject was affecting Ashe a lot more then she let on. At the moment she had moved her eyes down to her meal and seemed to stare at it as if it was a portal to her thoughts. Morph had also seemed to notice the change in his new friend and tried to get her attention once again. He nuzzled her cheek, which got her to look at him, and he licked her cheek. Ashe smiled at him as he then morphed into a bunch of lit fireworks. Jim then noticed that Leon had stopped eating altogether and was watching Ashe as well. Leon didn't look very happy either.

The rest of the meal was continued in silence. Every now and then, Jim would watch as Leon glanced up at Ashe, as if expecting her to say something. But Ashe just continued to eat and didn't seem to want to say anything. When she was finally finished, she got up, along with Selphy and Nieve, and left without a single word. Leon let out a growl as he slammed his fist down onto the table, getting worried stares from the people around them. Almost instantly, Leon calmed down, and got up from the table.

"I'm going to bed, I suggest you both do the same-especially you Jim, you've got a long day tomorrow." Leon said, and he walked out of the dining area. Jim started after him, realizing that there was no point in asking Zarrick what Leon's problem was. "See you later," Jim said as he got up from the table and walked out of the kitchen toward his bedroom.

Once there, he saw Leon on his bunk, it appeared as though he had just gotten to sleep, but Jim doubted he was asleep yet. Nevertheless, he crept up to his bunk and lied down, and fell asleep. He didn't even hear Zarrick come in.

"Hey Jim, come on you gotta get up. Cloud is looking for you." Jim groaned as he turned over in his bed, trying to get away from the person trying to wake him. He heard the person sigh before a sharp pain went through his lower back as the person jabbed him there.

"Alright! I'm up," he said as he sat up to glare at Leon. Leon just gave him a smile as he climbed off of his bed and onto the floor.

"Cloud wants you down in the Cave as soon as possible," Leon explained more, "He said to get some breakfast now since you'll most likely be working through it. Ashe should be up to get you something." And with that said, Leon left the room, most likely, Jim guessed, to do his morning work out.

It had been three days since he first came onto the ship. During that time he had learned a lot from both Milo and Cloud on the mechanics of the ship. He had also learned a lot about the crew. He could now tell if Cloud was angry with him, it seemed the man grunted a lot more when he was angry. Thanks to that new information he knew what to do to stay on Cloud's good side. It seemed he only annoyed the second-in-command mechanic when he was stressed; at least that was what Tori told him. She had helped him a lot during those days as well. Besides explaining Cloud's "mood swings", as she called them, she was normally close by in case Jim needed anything while they worked.

Jim had also gotten to know the other five members of his supposed team better. Zoltan hadn't been lying when he said that Leon and he would get along. Leon already made him feel like they had always been friends. It had also come to his attention that even though Nieve had the more bossy personality, Leon was the leader of the group. The others seemed to listen and follow whatever he said, even Nieve. He figured that it was just the way he treated all of them. It didn't seem as though Leon judged a situation on what he saw, but rather on what others saw. He also seemed to be open to other people's views.

Nieve was another thing he had to get used to. She definitely had her moments. He watched numerous times as she either scolded Zarrick or teased Ashe about this or that. But like Leon had said earlier to him, there did seem to be a different meaning to whatever she was saying or doing. At least that was what he figured when it came to Zarrick, he still couldn't figure out what kind of other meaning was behind teasing Ashe. Still, she did seem like she cared deeply for the other girls. He also got the impression that Nieve was the "mother hen" of the two other girls. She would criticize both of their behaviors if she deemed them unfit. Most of the time she would direct these comments at Selphy, but he had seen Ashe get them once or twice. What surprised him the most, mainly from what he had seen of Ashe, was that neither girl argued with Nieve when she did this.

Course, he saw why Selphy would be the main subject of Nieve's criticisms. Selphy was constantly bouncing off the walls. Not once had he seen her without a smile on her face. Her cheerfulness also seemed to be contagious. When Selphy was in the room, no matter what sadness you were feeling at the time vanished. She also seemed to have a fondness for Ashe. Whenever they were apart for a long amount time, when Selphy saw Ashe she would immediately hug her, regardless of what Ashe was doing. Ashe didn't appear to mind but almost every single time Selphy hugged her, it looked like it surprised her. This reminded Jim of a puppy greeting its master after a long day. He also remembered asking Ashe why she even let Selphy do that to her. Ashe's response was a simple "I just don't want to see her sad".

Jim jumped slightly as he got dressed when he heard a rustling sound close by. He looked over and watched as Zarrick moved into a new position, still sleeping. Soon Zarrick's snoring filled the room as Jim went back to get dressed for the day. He had learned that Zarrick was the "comic relief" of the group. He joked around a lot and you were always sure to have a good laugh while you were with him. But it was this sense of humor that also got him in trouble a lot with Nieve.

Jim ran a hand through his hair before exiting the room with Morph. When he finally reached the kitchen, he was greeted with the sound of rock music. Ashe stood at a counter, preparing what appeared to be breakfast. She looked up from her work and smiled at him as he entered.

"Morning," Ashe greeted cheerfully as she continued to cook up breakfast.

"Morning," he said back as he slumped onto a stool at the large island in the middle of the kitchen; still trying to wake up. He watched as Morph floated over to her, chirping "good morning" to her as well, and sat on her shoulder to see what she was cooking. She patted the little blob before getting a cup and pouring some coffee into it. She then handed it to Jim with a smile. He muttered his thanks as he started to drink, liking the way it warmed up his body.

"Oh, I heard Leon found you a material arts teacher," Ashe said as she busied herself with cooking once again. "I believe he said Kasumi is going to do it."

"She works directly with Zoltan, right," he asked as he recalled the person. He had met Kasumi once but he had seen her many times. Kasumi was almost a constant figure down in the Hollows. According to Tori and Ashe, who had decided to spend some time with her, Kasumi was the only person besides Zoltan that Cloud seemed to open up to. From what he could remember, she had short bright white hair that was cut much like a boys, but she had a single bang on the left side of her face that went right to her cheekbone. Her eyes were an amazing shade of teal that went perfectly with her hair, and slightly tanned skin. She had a similar build to Ashe and he also realized that the two women dressed in a similar manner. He also remembered seeing that her right arm was bandaged, but he didn't ask Ashe why.

"Yeah, Kasumi is the person that receives most of the information we get for missions. She is a part of Cloud's team as well. Anyway, she is the third strongest person in the guild, right after Captain." This wasn't the first time he heard this claim. Many times he had listened to members of mechanics crew talk about who the strongest person in the guild was. It was apparently a favorite topic of everyone. Almost everyone said that Zoltan was the second strongest, which surprised him. He had figured that being captain of the guild meant that he was stronger than anyone else. But everyone else said that it was Zoltan's sister-in-law, Kanna, who was the strongest. They all said that Kanna could take on a whole interstellar army by herself and live. At the moment, she was a on a special mission, which was why she wasn't with the crew.

The two of them then fell into silence. The sound of the music Ashe had playing and the clanging of her moving various cooking utensils filled the room in the absence of their voices. He watched her, having nothing better to do, as she went about the kitchen with an energy he hadn't seen in her previously. A smile was on her face as she lightly bobbed her head to the beat of the music, stopping every now and then to taste whatever she was cooking or to feed scraps to Morph. It didn't seem like her injuries were giving her any sorts of problems either. Once she was done cooking, she brought two plates over to where he was sitting and laid one in front of him. She then sat next to him and began eating her breakfast with haste.

She shook her head, trying to get the energy out, as she said, "By Martell I can't wait to get out of here."

"Cabin fever?" he asked with a smirk, finally feeling awake. Ashe lightly shoved his shoulder as she shook her head with her smile growing. The two of them had grown "close" as Leon had put it one night. Leon had said that Ashe normally didn't take to people right away but for whatever reason she appeared to be comfortable around Jim.

Ashe lightly shoved his shoulder, as her smile seemed to grow more. Her energy level seemed to go down a little as she looked at him. "I wouldn't go that far but I was feeling restless these past few days. Most likely because I had to go see Marron and sit in that dreaded room," she said as she started to eat her meal.

"You hate the doctors that much?" he asked as he mimicked her in eating.

"Only the ones I don't know personally. Marron is really the soul-exception since I've known her since I was little. But anything about doctors I hate, especially being examined by one." She straightened a little, as if to say that she was done talking about the subject, as her energy came back full force. Jim chuckled as he watched her almost bounce out of her seat. They finished their meal in silence. Ashe cleaned up their plates as Jim finished off his coffee. "Oh, would you mind helping me bring some stuff down to the Hollows, I need to sort out the emergency food for each team but I can't carry all the boxes alone." He nodded and soon the two of them were heading down a hallway with boxes in hand.

When they reached the Hollows, they heard the sound of people talking. They stopped at the doorway and watched the people who were already within the room. Cloud stood in front of a long boat with his arms folded. He had a frown on his face as he stared at his companion but a slight mischievous glint could be seen in his cold blue eyes. His companion, Kasumi, stood in position that mimicked Clouds. She seemed to be enjoying their conversation.

"Come on," she said with a taunting flick of her head, "all you gotta do is admit it, and then I'll leave you alone."

"No," Cloud said in an even tone.

Kasumi rolled her eyes. "Why must you be so stubborn? Fine, how about we make a bet? If I can get you to admit that you actually like the kid within the month, then I get any money you make on the missions we go on this month. But if I can't do that then you get all the money I make within the same time frame." Cloud gave her a small glare as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I shouldn't even make this bet with you, you know. I make more money than any of you guys, but I really think he'll grow on you. Are you in?"

He gave her one more quizzical look before sighing and saying, "Fine, you got a deal." They then shook hands, and Kasumi's smirk grew.

"Pleasure doing business with you Spiky." She then gave him a mock salute, turned around, and walked towards the two teens. Her genuine smile came as she spotted them. "Morning you two."

"Morning Kasumi," Ashe greeted.

"Taking it you two heard all that," Kasumi said as she took the boxes Ashe was carrying.

Ashe pouted slightly as she did so, but didn't voice a complaint. "Yeah, we did," Jim answered for them. Kasumi looked at him for a moment before nodding with an added shrug.

"Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. Anyway, I guess I'm going to be teaching you how to fight, huh? We'll start when we leave Zealand. Come on Angel, I'll help you sort these out." With that, Kasumi walked off towards a storage room on the other side of the hanger. Ashe sighed as she took the boxes from Jim and gave him a smile before trotting off after Kasumi. Jim looked at Cloud as he heard the other man sigh. Cloud ran a hand over his face and then through his hair as he watched the two girls go. He then looked at Jim, his neutral face back in place.

"Here," he said tossing Jim a clipboard. "That's a checklist we have to go through with every long boat. Find something you aren't sure of, call me over and I'll have a look. You check all the boats down there and I'll take these ones." And with that, Cloud jumped into a boat and started his inspection. Jim glanced at him before following his example.

"Urgh, Jim a little help please?" Jim quickly looked up from the console of the long boat he was examining to see Ashe struggling with a box. He quickly got up and took it from her, which she gave a grateful grunt for. She then leaned against the boat. Her face made him worry. She didn't appear to be feeling well; her face was scrunched up in pain. He set the box down and then leaned over the side to see her. Morph, having chosen to sleep within Jim's pocket while he examined the boats, floated down to her eye level and let out a whimper of concern as he looked at her. He rubbed her cheek as she closed her eyes.

"You alright?" Jim asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

"Just my pain killers wearing off. I'll be fine in a minute," she huffed out as she started to rub her lower back. That wasn't exactly the reply he wanted. He had come to know that Ashe was great at covering up her own emotions, much like Cloud. Only a few times, this moment being one, had he actually seen her display a feeling of pain.

"I told you not to over do it." Jim looked up to see who had spoken. Nieve walked over with two duffle bags slung over one of her shoulders. She dropped one of them down and rummaged through it. Shortly after, she took out a medicine bottle. Opening it and tipping a pill onto her open hand, she forced the pill into Ashe's hand. "Take it, unless you want a lecture from Leon when he comes down."

"Aren't you going to give me one," Ashe questioned after forcing the pill down her throat.

"Not in the mood," was Nieve's reply.

'Zarrick must have done something again,' Jim thought. He looked at Ashe, who looked like she was in less pain. By the look on her face, it appeared as though Ashe had thought of the same thing. Nieve got into the boat after having thrown the duffle bags into it. She sat down on a bench with her eyes closed and arms crossed. Knowing better than to disturb her, Jim gave Ashe one more look before going back to work. When he had looked at her that last time, Ashe appeared to have wanted to say something but resisted it. The sound of a sigh and retreating footsteps were all he heard afterwards.

"You two really are close." He almost jumped when he heard Nieve speak; he had almost forgotten that she was there. He looked over his shoulder at her. Nieve, still in the same position she was in earlier expect now with her eyes open, stared back at him with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

"I guess," he answered back, seeing as she wanted a reply from him.

"Leon had told me that she took a liking to you," she said as a thoughtful look came over her face but the curiosity never left. He didn't answer her this time, he was not really sure how to. Her lips formed a smirk, one that had the look of a feral cat, as she settled more into her seat. "I must say I'm a bit surprised. Ashe, as you've probably seen, dislikes being alone with strangers. This is why I'm wondering why you're different."

"Ever thought you're reading into it too much?" The two teens looked over and saw Leon, Zarrick, and Cloud standing by the boat. Jim was grateful for the three of them at the moment. He wasn't sure what Nieve was trying to get out of him but it was certainly making him uncomfortable. Nieve's smirk turned into a scowl as she grunted at Leon, who was the one that had spoken.

Cloud broke the tension between them. "You all done?" he asked stepping towards Jim.

"Yeah," he said and handed the clipboard over to him. Cloud nodded and then took his leave without another word. Zarrick climbed into the boat and sat at the other end, away from Nieve. He didn't look all that happy, which just confirmed Jim's belief that the two had an argument before Nieve had come down to the Hollows.

"Here," Leon said, getting Jim's attention, as he threw Jim his duffle bag. "Thought it might be better to bring it down for you then waiting for you to go and get it yourself."

"Thanks." Jim said. Leon nodded in acceptance as the rest of the crew filed into the room. They all clustered around the long boats, forming the teams that they had been assigned to for their mission. Soon the sound of conversation flooded the room as the long boats were packed with the supplies and people alike. Selphy and Ashe soon arrived at their long boat. Selphy was chatting merrily with Ashe as Morph floated between them, giving his own voice to their conversation by adding in gurgles and chirps. Ashe didn't seem to be in pain anymore, but Jim wasn't sure if she was once again acting or if the painkillers had actually taken affect. She was carrying a box of what he guessed was the rest of their emergency food. He didn't ask her how she was feeling once the two girls reached the boat. Most likely if he did say something Leon would then start asking his own questions and Jim didn't want that.

"Is this the rest of the food?" Leon asked as he took the box from Ashe and then passed it up to Jim, who put it with the other.

"Yeah, Nieve already brought my stuff down so I'm all set to go," Ashe answered.

"Alright," Leon said with a cheerful grin. The two girls then climbed into the boat, Selphy sitting next to Zarrick and Ashe sitting next to the spot Jim had decided to take once they were off. Leon went over to the lever to open the hatch, speaking quickly with Cloud as he paced. Once he opened the hatch, he climbed in and took a seat next to the long boat's controls. Jim, with help from Zarrick, released the boat after Leon gave them the go ahead. Once they were free falling, Leon quickly opened the sail and the ship took off, following the rest of the crew as they descended down towards the planet.

**A/N**: I am sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I had the worst case of writer's block and this kept me from getting this out sooner. Hopefully I made up for it and I plan on releasing the next chapter soon. Also, please send me reviews. They help me greatly when I'm writing a chapter to know what people think of the last one or the story as a whole.


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